Akane
by Alma Theresa
Summary: The Dog Demons are a dying species. As head of the strongest of the remaining six tribes, Sesshomaru must pick a mate from one of the three eligible females of his kind. But throw an unmarked flame-haired she-dog in the mix, and watch everything turn red.
1. Prologue: Orphan Child

**Prologue: Orphan Child**

She watched it all burn.

Everything turned to bright red fire and then dark smoke and ash that reached towards the burning sunset, searing into her memory the smell, the sound of the crackling wood and fire. Tears stung her bright violet eyes and her face was smudged with soot and her short, wavy red hair was singed from where the fire had eaten it away. She sobbed and her lips trembled, watching everything burn away in the fire. Her kimono was burned up to her knees, and her legs had blisters and bled where the fire had eaten at her skin. Her hands also bore blisters and wounds from trying to drag burning lumber from her families bodies, though they were dead long before she reached them.

"Momma…Papa…" she sniffed, her body trembling, "Sister… brother…" she sobbed and hiccup, then wailed into the sky, "Momma!!"

The sun would fall and no one would come. The fire would eat everything, leaving nothing but charred ruins of the mansion that was once her home. The little girl sat alone and watched the dying embers of the fire that engulfed her home and family, her face silent now and void. Her eyes were blank, like the dead, as she stared at what remained of her home and remembered the burning smell of flesh as her family died.

She heard the trees around her rustle, but didn't move. She didn't flinch or even turn when she heard the foot-fall. She didn't look up or show any sign of life as a foreboding presence loomed over her, as she felt a gaze on her that would normally make her hackles raise. She would continue to stare at the burning remains of her home.

"Tell me," said a deep, strong, commanding voice, "What happened here?"

She said nothing. Somewhere, the fire snapped as it ate at the wood still.

"…was this your home, pup?" he spoke again.

This time, she slowly nodded.

"Hm…" There was another pause, and wood snapped and dissolved into ash and ember. The interloper moved away from her without a word. His form stepped into her line of sight. He was tall, enormous, really. He gave off the air of a great and powerful man, dressed in armor with long, flowing silver hair held up high on his head. He wore a white pelt over his shoulders and three swords on his person. He walked through the ash and dying fire without any care, it seemed, about the black ash and soot that covered his white clothes.

She watched him walk to what small place was still piled together to resemble a small building, like a skeleton. He peered in, now standing to the side, and she saw his face. Stern, handsome, she supposed, though she was too young to truly think of these things, and he had a jagged dark navy stripe below a golden eye. She remembered what her father told her about such marks. They were the mark of his tribe.

He reached out with one hand and ripped away easily a chard beam that blocked the only entrance and gazed in. What he saw, she didn't have to know. That small area was where she had spied the dead bodies of her three siblings, now burned, no doubt. Her elder brother and sisters were in there, and her parents' bodies were somewhere off to the farthest east part of the remains, piled under the ruins of the roof of their bed-room, if their bodies were not completely devoured by now.

The stranger backed away and lowered his eyes for a moment, seemingly deep in thought. Then he stepped away, returning to stand in front of her. Now, she found that she couldn't look away from the man. His appearance, watching him move about in the burning remains of her home, and brought back the memories of watching it all.

She began to cry again.

He looked down at her, and knelt in front of her now. "What happened to your family, little pup?" he asked her as gently as possible with his deep, gruff voice.

Her lip trembled and she tightened her hands on her lap, making her little claws bite into the blisters and opening the healing wounds. "…k-killed…" she muttered, "All of them…they killed them all…I _saw_ them!" she began to cry again, louder and harder than she had ever cried before as she remembered all the screams, all the blood she had seen. She told the stranger everything she remembered.

Her mother had tried to save her, her youngest child, but grabbing her and running. She was already covered in blood, her's mixed with her other children's. She had tried to run, tried to seek protection with her mate, only to find that he had been murdered while he slept in bed. She cried out in her anguish, then the murderers came. She told her daughter to flee, and she had, and she had listened to her mother scream in pain as she died. She had hidden, and then the fire started. She tried to find her siblings, but they were all dead. She ran back to her mother and father, but they were already dead too. All the servants, her friends, everyone in the mansion had been killed. She was the only one left.

She almost couldn't finish her tale, she was crying so hard. When she did, let out a deafening wail of sorrow that, though she didn't know it, pained this outsider's heart. He put a strong hand on her head and pulled her to him, allowing her to rest her head against him. She gripped his robe without a thought about it, leaving ash and blood stains there, and cried. He stayed with her, saying nothing, barley moving, until she fainted from her emotional exhaustion.

He lifted the little orphan up. She was so young that she easily fit in one arm, and he wrapped her in his pelt. He took her away from that place, her home that became her hell, and prayed that this poor, innocent little one would not be tainted by her experience.

--

**A/N:**

The name "_Akane_" means "deep red" in Japanese.


	2. Endangered Species

**1: Endangered Species**

"Sesshomaru-sama, you must meet with your vassals as soon as possible!"

"Sesshomaru-sama, it is imperative that you see to the matters in the northern parts of your territory!"

"Sesshomaru-sama!"

"Sesshomaru-sama!"

Sesshomaru let out a feral snarl and snapped his jaws at his servants. They all flinched away in terror, letting out cries as they fell to their knees as trembling masses before his feet. He growled at them, red bleeding into his eyes as they continued to shiver, noses to the ground.

They were simply doing their jobs, bringing him his messages and reminding him of his duties. But he had had almost enough of it. "Be gone from my presence at once," he said, turning on his heals, "I wish to be alone."

They said nothing directly to him, only murmured their thanks to the gods that they had not been killed on the spot and hurried away, bowing repeatedly to their lord as they went, closing the door to his private study. He stank down to the floor and sat cross-legged with his arm over his leg, trying to calm his ruffled nerves.

Truly, it was not the servants' fault that he was in such a foul mood. It was the world's.

In only a year's time, he would be _forced_ to take a mate if he didn't already chose one. It was brought to his attention none too lightly by one of his father's former advisors, Kaito.

"The Dog tribe is a dwindling species of demon," he said, "Slowly, they are becoming less and less. It had been happening since the death of the Great Dog Demon. Your line, Sesshomaru-sama, has always been the strongest branch of the tribe, and since you and your half-brother are all that is left of your father's legacy, it is up to you to keep this tribe alive."

Sesshomaru didn't like such ideas. To force him to mate so that he would reproduce was foolish. Besides, his whelp of a brother had already succeeded in spawning four pups of his own, wasn't that enough?

Since the end of Naraku and the disappearance of the Shinkon Jewel, Sesshomaru had returned to his lands in the West and his duties as the Dog Tribe Lord. It was his job, as eldest son, to take over the lands from his father. For a few centuries, he had shied away from these duties, preferring to leave them to Kaito and the other retainers of his father. But not only had this enraged them, but they had sought him out many a time.

Finally, with no more excuses to leave, he returned. It was not like he didn't want his father's former power of their tribe, head of all other dog demons, but rather, he had longed to surpass his old man. He had succeeded, in his time away, at expanding their territory immensely. But in his mind, it hadn't been enough. He had longed for the Tetsusgia and Sounga, the sword of his father. But, after much time, he grew tired and bored of that quest. He no longer desires his father's fang, and left the sword of Hell to be devoured by the void, along with his arm. He had no use for either.

The Tensagia, however, hung safely away in his private chambers. He never much cared for the sword, but over the years together, decided he was at least slightly found of it.

Sesshomaru's eyes snapped open at the small sound that came from just outside his door. He turned his head to watch the door open, and Rin peek in. "Sesshomaru-sama? May I come in?" she asked. The little human girl insisted on visiting him the last time he had come to the village his brother lived in. Sesshomaru hadn't thought much of it, and brought the girl to stay with him for a time.

Kaito and the retainers said nothing, but the whispers amongst his servants and vassals caused him more annoyance, and made him want to repent less for his earlier threat to their lives. He turned away from her and simply said, "Do as you wish."

Rin smiled and walked right over to him. He was facing out the open door to the garden. It was a small pleasure, this peaceful garden, with green trees and grass, a pound and a vine covered wall. Rin was instantly captures by the flowers that grew all around, and hand to crawl over to the edge of the small porch to grab a few.

Flowers, he learned very early, where something she loved greatly. She hummed her strange, of key tune as she gathered them up and created a wreath. "Sesshomaru-sama!" she smiled at him, holding up the flowers, "Look! What do you think?"

Sesshomaru looked over the wreath of assorted-color flowers, "Hm," he looked back to the sky, bright blue with large, stark-white clouds.

Rin wasn't put-off by his lack of response. She simply giggled and put the wreath over her head like a crown, and went back to leaning over the porch to take up more flowers, still humming her song.

Sesshomaru let himself be drawn away from the thoughts of his rather hectic life since his return to his lands, and closed his eyes, drifting off in though, relaxing more than he should let himself. It was strangely refreshing, but short-lived.

"Sesshomaru-sama!" Rin's voice drew him out of his peace, and he scowled at her for doing so. He found, though, that she was not where she was when he closed his eyes, but now in the garden itself, her kimono rolled up to her knees and wading in the pound. "Sesshomaru-sama! Look!" she held up a water-lily with a big smile, "Do you think this would look pretty on Kagame-neechan? I think she would like it!"

Sesshomaru didn't tell her that the lily wouldn't last long enough for his brother's woman to see it, instead, he rose up slowly with a grunt and said evenly, "Get out of that water, Rin. You'll catch cold."

"Okay," Rin chimed, and jumped from the water. Sesshomaru didn't wait for her to fix her kimono to begin to leave the room.

Reality wasn't something he could allow himself to escape. He had to face facts. If he was going to keep his lands, he _had_ to have a mate before the year was out. It was not only Kaito's blunt observation of his declining species that would force him to mate, but also the laws. It was required for a lord to have a wife, and heirs to inherit the lineage.

He growled lowly to himself as he exited the room, Rin hot on his trail as he went onward down one of the long halls. He had to speak with a few of his advisors, as long as they were _not_ Kaito…

--

"How wonderful!" chimed the beautiful young woman, "Sesshomaru-sama is going to take a wife!" she giggled as she roughly gave the letter back to the messenger, who bowed and hurried away.

The lady was stunning, with long, flowing, glossy black hair and in the center of her brow was a lavender diamond-shape. Her lips were a cherry-blossom pink, and her skin the color of milk. She wore an expensive kimono of bright, spring colors, and three hand-maids worked feverously on coming her beloved locks of hair.

"Certainly it will be me he choices, correct?" she said to her chief-maid, an elderly demoness who sat near her lady, "After all, a link between our families would be a great benefit to him. Besides, no other demoness could match me in beauty."

"Yes, my lady," bowed the maid, "But you will not be the only female he will choose from. There are two other eligible dog-princess that Sesshomaru-sama can choose from."

The lady frowned at her maid, and roughly grabbed one of the hand-maid's silver-combs and threw it hard at her maid, who didn't even flinch as it scraped her skin just below her eye, making it bleed.

"Be quiet, you old hag," the princess huffed, turning her nose up at her, "What would you know, anyway?"

"Forgive me, Princess Umeko," the maid bowed, "I was out of line."

"You certainly were!" she huffed, then roughly pulled one of the maids brushing her hair in front of her. The young maiden cowered at first, shaking as she bowed before her princess. "Go have my finest kimono readied. I go to the west in the morning."

"Y-Yes my lady!" the maid said, and quickly went to do her mistress's bidding.

Umeko grinned, leaning back as she gingerly stroked a lock of her hair, "Sesshomaru, you will be mine."

--

"So, he's finally taking a mate?" huffed the golden-haired demoness as she stood in her garden. She crumpled the paper right away, grinning sinisterly, "What a pompous bastard," she threw it over her shoulder so it landed in the tranquility pound where the bamboo sounded it peaceful "clack" in rythem.

"Sumiko-sama," the hand-maid bowed to her lady, "What will you do?"

"To answer is summons right away is stupidity. I will not seem desperate for his hand," the woman answered, "I will wait for a time."

She was stunning in her own right. Tall, lean, with her pale-gold hair falling to her thighs in a tight braid. She wore a pale lavender kimono, and on her cheeks were three, thin, pale blue stripes. Her skin was slightly tanned, and she was highly intelligent.

"But, Sumiko-sama, what happens if another is chosen before you? You know your father wishes to join families with the Great Dog lineage!"

"Bah," she scoffed with a grin, raising her head proudly, "I am his obvious choice. My family is stronger than any other, save his own. If he had a lick of sense in him, it will be me he chooses. Our pups will be legendary."

"I hope you are correct, my lady," sighed the maid.

Sumiko glared at her out of the corner of her eye, "Am I ever wrong, Rio?" she snapped.

The maid instantly became very alert and very pale, "N-No, my lady, no!" she said, her voice quivering, "Never you, my lady!"

Sumiko didn't seem convinced in her answer, and turned towards her, her arms folded inside the sleeves of her kimono as she walked towards the maid, who shook more with every step she took. "I should hope you speak the truth," she said coldly, "Otherwise you know your fate. The same as your mother's, who dared question me before."

"Y-Yes, my lady, I know," the maid said, "I-I would never question you."

Sumiko huffed, staring down at the pathetic excuse for a demon and turned away, "Stop that ridiculous shaking and come along. I must speak to my father on this matter of Sesshomaru."

"Of course, Sumiko-sama," the maid bowed lowly as her lady moved on, and only dared to follow her at the appropriate pace, keeping her head low as they walked.

Sumiko smugly smiled to herself at her thoughts. 'Yes, Sesshomaru, I am your _only _choice.'

--

"Megumi!" the booming voice made all the maids in their lady's presence cower and let out small cries of fear as, storming down the halls, came their lord, the lady's father. "Why did you refuse the invitation!?"

Megumi, who had watched her father storm forward, grinned and turned her hear away, nose to the sky as she stoked her earthy brown hair, "Why would I go see that cruel and hateful Sesshomaru? He is a stupid, spiteful bastard. I will have nothing to do with him."

Her father fumed at his daughter as she sat down at her small tea-table, enjoying the fresh, warm drink without giving her father an ounce of respect. "You _will_ go, Megumi! You have no choice!" he shook his hand, which gripped the letter of rejection she would've scent to Sesshomaru, at her, "Do you have any idea what this could mean for our family should he pick you for his wife!?"

"I know very well, father," she said calmly, with the same, care-free smile on her face, "It would mean that your power will be doubled, and our lands combined. And I will be forced to spend my nights with that tyrant as he wife and bear him children that would grind one my nerves."

"Be silent!" he shouted at her, "You ungrateful child! You have been blessed with everything in your life!"

"Indeed," giggled Megumi, "And because of this, I feel I am too spoiled. So, I will _refuse_ to be _blessed _with Sesshomaru-sama for my husband. There, I am not so spoiled."

Her father ground his fangs together and crashed his fist down into the table, shattering it. Megumi simply lifted up her tea cup without even a flinch and sipped her tea gingerly.

"Megumi," her father growled after taking a breath to calm himself, "What is this really about?"

There was a pause as Megumi finished her cup of tea, and then she gave it to a maid, who took it with shaky hands, "…did you execute that woman?" she asked, her once cheery tone now replace with a cold one, her beautiful features now turning wicked.

When she smiled, she appeared so innocent and kind. She looked like an angel that graced the world with her presence, and acted kind and gentle. She had pale, soft skin, mid-length brown hair, golden eyes, and on her brow was a mark, a simple dew-shape that was a bright aqua. She wore a kimono decorated with golden cranes against a silver back-drop, and her hair was pinned back with the finest jewelry in the land. Her chambers were extravagantly decorated, and she spared no expense on anything.

Her father scowled at his daughter, "_That_ is all?"

"Yes," she answered curtly, "I said I wanted that woman dead, didn't I? Why is it that she is still alive?"

"If it's her death you want, then it will be done," he said, "Now, if you please it."

"Oh, it's already been done," Megumi smiled at her father, "But thank you so much for saying that." She snapped her fingers, and a maid bowed before her. She said sweetly, "Go and bring some men to clean up this mess, and then bring a fresh table and tea for me and my father to enjoy a drink."

"Yes ma'am," the maid bowed before hurrying away.

Megumi looked to her father, "Now, where were we, dearest father?" she asked.

He glared at his daughter, but sighed, letting his anger fade, "Your summons to the palace of the West."

"Ah, yes!" she chimed, "Oh, handsome Sesshomaru-sama and I will be a wonderful match, don't you agree, Papa?" she smiled cheerily, "And we will give you so many little grand-pups to smother!" she giggled in a child-like way.

Her father thought nothing of it, simply happy it would seem his daughter had changed her mind about going to see Sesshomaru and allow him to court her for the possibility of marriage.

A new table came and replaced the broken one, and with it a fresh tea-set and more tea that Megumi poured herself for her father. All the while, as she talked with him, her mind was turning.

'I will have Sesshomaru for my husband,' she decided, 'And _no one_ will stand in my way.'

--

She dashed through the woods without a hindrance. She could hear them closing in on her, but she was smug with her work. Her artful use of the rain along with the wind would keep her scent masked, and as long as she didn't let up in her run, she would never be caught.

Wearing only a tunic that went to her mid-thigh, the bottom-half of her face covered in a mask, and her arms and calves protected by thick, metal reinforced black leather, she ran with ease through mud and brush. The woods seemed to part for her in a perfect path as she darted through it's heart, her bright, burning red hair pulled back in a pony-tail and hanging width-wise at her waist behind her a short-sword, her only weapon, began to glow ever so slightly. It knew the sword that she know carried over her back.

The only give away to a human of her demonic origin would be her ears, which were sharply pointed. She had no markings of a clan or tribe, for she had none. She was completely alone, and preferred it that way. It made for easier get-aways to have no one to worry about.

She dashed on, and couldn't help but let her smile become wider as she smelled the air past the rain. _'Almost home free! Yet another successful heist!'_ she thought smugly.

As the forest began to thin and turning into the familiar cliff-side she had staked out for many months now, she took a leap, prepared to jump over the cliff and dive into the deep lake below. But before she could, she found herself drawn down by a net that fell from the canopy of trees.

She let out a scream and then snarled in her fury, using her claws to rip apart the net with ease and pulling her short sword to face her attackers. They flanked her on all sides, and were to numerous to count. They came out of the forests' shadows with roars of battle and tried to fight against her.

She used a well devised method, one she master over a hundred years, of both using her short-sword and her legs to defeat most. It was when she found her leg caught and twisted around so she fell to the ground, struggling and snarling and hissing at them as they pinned her, binding her legs and arms so she couldn't move, that she realized that, for the first time, she had failed.

"What do we do with her now?" she heard one of the men say.

"Master Kaito?" asked another of their leader.

"We bring her to the lord," said a weathered old demon, reaching out and taking the long-sword she had once carried on her back, examining it before looking back down at her. He looked her over once, and the stared at her for a time, making her growl in return, "He will decide her fate from here. Pick her up."

The men roughly did so and threw her over a horses' back like a sack, and some laughed at her struggles, punching, smacking, and slashing at her as they made their way back towards the palace where she had stolen her prize. A prize that she realized, as she watched the demon called Kaito inspect it, my not have been worth all her troubles…

--

**A/N:** Okay! So this is the begining to yet _another_ Inuyasha story! ^^; I happened to be doodling in my sketch pad the other day, just for kicks and giggles, and my little sister had dug out my old Inuyasha flicks, so...I ended up drawing something that inspired me to write, and _TAH-DAH_! _Instant story_!

Anyway, please Review and tell me what you think! ^^ Thanks for reading!

--_Alma Theresa_


	3. Like Red Fire

**2: Like Red Fire**

Sesshomaru was furious to say the least. In one day, everything had succeeded in going wrong. One of his three possible bride arrived almost the day after he had the summons sent out. He ordered a few of his servants to tend to her, and that had gone bad.

Princess Umeko, as she was known, was not easily pleased. She threw out four of her servants and tried to execute two of his own when they had come within inches of her hair, which he had heard was her pride and joy, though he couldn't bring himself to believe how vain the woman was when it came to her tresses.

On top of that, she had struck Rin.

That had caused another whole mess of problems for him.

It was near noon when he found Rin in the garden where they had spent a few moments together the previous day. She wasn't crying, but she looked lost. She didn't pick any of the flowers, she simply sat amongst them, staring at them as the swayed in the wind.

At first, he had seen nothing, for he could only see one side of her face. "Rin," he called her name, but she didn't face him. This troubled him, and he walked to the edge of the porch, "Rin," he said, a bit more forcibly.

This seemed to jolt her out of whatever far of place she had been in, and she instantly snapped to give him her full attention. "S-Sesshomaru-sama!" she chimed, "I'm sorry! I was…thinking."

That's when he saw it. On her left check, from just below her eye to the corner of her mouth, were four thin scratch marks. They were still bright red with her blood and flushed skin, though they appeared cleaned, which meant Rin had probably tended to them. Still, his hand clenched, though his face did not betray much emotion, except for his narrowing eyes.

"What happened to you face?" he asked strongly.

"Eh?" Rin blinked, as if at first not realizing what he meant, which irritated him. But instantly, her finger tips touched her wounded cheek, and she seemed to remember. A flash of hurt touched her eyes, but it was gone as quickly as it appeared, "It's nothing, Sesshomaru-sama! Rin just…hurt herself today! I fell in a flower bush filled with thorns and cut myself! That's all!" she promised.

Sesshomaru didn't believe her at all. She didn't need her to tell him, he could smell it in the blood. Umeko's scent was all over that wound, he could smell it even with this distance. He had Rin go to her room and scent for a doctor to tend to it, and then had Umeko summoned to him.

When she arrived, he wasn't surprised that she had changed her attire since he saw her in the morning. From the simple kimono she wore, she now wore a multi-layered, bright kimono of golds and blues, and her hair was styled just so. She wore perfumes that tickled his senses, and a slight touch of make-up to her lips and eyes.

"Sesshomaru-sama," she cooed at him, "I was surprised when you called me to your rooms. Is there something you wish to talk to me about?"

He scowled at her, "Leave your maid," he indicated to the old woman, "I must speak to you _alone_."

The old woman bowed, "Forgive me, o' great lord," she said, "But a man and woman who are not man and wife should not be alone without—"

"_Get out_, _hag!_" Umeko hissed under her breath at the woman.

She didn't even flinch at the harsh tone, but bowed again and backed out of the room, the door shutting instantly. Umeko didn't waste any time. She slowly moved to Sesshomaru's side, and rested a hand on his arm, leaning in close to his ear, though she had to push herself up on her toes to do so.

"I have _dreamed_ of this day, Sesshomaru-sama," she whispered, "When you and I can be together for all eternity."

Sesshomaru never looked at her, and said nothing. He wanted to rip away her hand, in fact, he wanted to rip it _off_. The only thing stopping him was the knowledge that harming this girl would bring about a feud between her tribe and his. Something he didn't currently want, on top of this dilemma.

"Take me as your mate, Sesshomaru," Umeko continued, "Take me _now_."

"No," Sesshomaru said very curtly.

Umeko froze beside him. "W-What!?"

"I will not have you for my mate," he said, glaring at her, "The reason I summoned you here is about the human girl, Rin."

"Human…?" Umeko glared at him, and thought for a few moments before saying with a sinister grin, "That horrid little brat? What about her?"

Sesshomaru restrained himself from growling at the way she referred to Rin, and simply said, "You struck her."

"Of _course_ I did!" she shrieked, "The stupid little whelp tried to put _flowers_ in my hair! I thought she was simply a servant come to brush my hair, and suddenly I find the little brat is putting the most hideous braids and knots into my hair for _fun!_"

Sesshomaru turned away from her, "You have yet to condone your wounding of her face."

"_See ruined my hair!_" Umeko shouted at him, "It took my maids near of two hours to fix the mess she had made!"

Sesshomaru huffed, "Two hours wasted on your hair?" he looked down at her, "Why did you not simply cut it out?"

Umeko looked horrified, and stormed from the room, grunting and shouting curses at him and Rin all the way. Sesshomaru was soon joined by Kaito, who had, not to Sesshomaru's surprise, listened in.

"I must say," he chuckled, "You have a way with women."

"You're sarcasm is not amusing, Kaito," Sesshomaru sat down before a small desk that held scrolls that he had yet to look over. He would get to them…eventually.

"Many would beg to differ," Kaito chuckled again, then inviting himself to sit down before Sesshomaru. "I take it I should arrange for the return of Umeko-sama?"

"Unless you would rather find our tribes at war," he answered as he picked up a scroll, no particular one, just something so that he would seem busy so Kaito would leave.

Kaito nodded and smiled, "Yes, that would be wise, wouldn't it?" he tilted his head, "I'm curious though. Why do you make such a big fuss about the little human? Surely she is not worth causing such a ruckus with the princess."

Sesshomaru, though he often wanted to, couldn't find the want to lash out at the old advisor. Kaito had been a part of his life for as long as he could remember, and he was almost like an uncle to him. He and his father were very close, the best of friends. After the Great Dog Demon's death, Kaito had stepped up in Sesshomaru's absence to tend to things.

But on the matter of Rin, it was no secret that all of Sesshomaru's vassals were confused. Sesshomaru's obvious dislike of humanity was made clear throughout most of his childhood and youth. So when he brought this little maiden to the palace and order her, essentially, treated as his daughter, it more than shocked everyone in his home. Sesshomaru chose, for the most part, to ignore it as long as no problems arose.

"…Rin is…special to me," Sesshomaru admitted after much thought, "That is all you need know."

Kaito nodded, seeming to accept this. Sesshomaru didn't press Kaito on the matter, nor did Kaito press him. He simply muttered his apologies for eavesdropping and excused himself from the room.

Sesshomaru spent the rest of the day alone and did not go to the dining hall to have supper with Umeko, deciding to skip the meal all together. He stayed in his study until it was only a few hours to dawn, and then he heard it.

He turned his head to the open window that showed the roof of the east building, where his private chambers were. He felt it, something that didn't belong. It made his hackles raise and his instincts stir. He dashed out with lightening fast speed. Something was amiss.

The first room he checked was not his own. He yanked open the door to Rin's room, only to find her fast asleep. This relieved him only slightly. Something was still very wrong.

Then he heard a terrified squawk and his head jerked to the side as Jaken came rushing around the corner. The moment he saw Sesshomaru, he skidded to a halt. He looked more terrified than before and hit his knees, his beak to the ground as he cried in his shrill voice, "S-Sesshomaru-sama! You're palace has been robed! Your father's fang is gone!"

Sesshomaru gritted his fangs together, his claws digging into the door-frame of Rin's room and seeping poison into the wood, making it sizzle and rot away rapidly.

"Send out my men," he ordered Jaken, "Bring the culprit to me _alive!_"

"Y-Yes, milord!" Jaken scrambled away as fast as his little legs would take him.

Sesshomaru wanted this thief to face him. He could easily take out all of his frustrations on him and sleep because of it.

--

She struggled against her captors, bonds, and showed absolutely no remorse or fear for what she had done. She was brought before him, the great Sesshomaru, so he could pass judgment on her. It was in his mind to kill her himself on the spot for this crime. She had not only succeeded in breaking into his home, but she had _stolen_ the Tensagia!

Yet she glared at him, this woman. She snarled at him when he stared her down. When he growled at her, bearing his fangs and showing his status as the alpha, she matched it. She showed her own fangs and snarled back fiercely, which made his entire body tense at her challenge.

She was dressed all in black, though her strange metal and leather garments that were once on her lower arms and legs were removed, and she had wild, wavy, bright red hair that fell loosely about her face. She was thin, but her body was taunt with muscle. Her aura swirled around her, wild and untamed, and though she was clearly a dog, she had no markings on her body, nothing to distinguish her tribal origin.

"Woman!" snapped one of Sesshomaru's men, "You are guilty of stealing from the house of Inu! You face Sesshomaru, Lord of the West! Show your respect!"

The woman looked to the demon who spoke and gave him a wicked smile, "Respect? Let me out of these bonds and I'll show you _respect_!" she tried to lung, but she was instantly grabbed by three soldiers, and one slammed the shaft of a spear into her gut, knocking the wind from her and making her fall to her knees.

"How _dare_ you!" hissed one of the soldiers, "You'll pay for your insolence, worthless bitch!" he kicked her in the jaw, making blood splatter across the floor.

"Enough," Sesshomaru snapped, and the soldiers all froze. "Step aside. Let her go."

They did, though hesitant to release her. As they moved away, the red-haired demoness scowled up at him from her place on the floor, blood trailing down her chin, staining her fangs as she gritted them tightly together.

"…what is your name, demoness?" he demanded of her.

She looked away from him, defying him still.

"Tell me your name," Sesshomaru growled at her, stepping forward, slowly closing the gap between them.

She turned her head slightly to him, smiling smugly.

Sesshomaru was slowly growing irritated, and reached down to grab a handful of her red tresses, yanking her face up to look dead at him, peering down into her strange, swirling violet eyes as he growled, "Your _name."_

She glared at him now, and it became a contest of wills. Silence fell all through the room, the large entrance hall to the rest of the palace, just inside the gates where he had awaited her to be brought to him.

Neither one of them seemed willing to give, neither even blinking as they were locked in this spiritual war. Finally, the woman muttered something.

"Speak up," Sesshomaru snapped.

"I am Akane," she said again.

Sesshomaru didn't release her yet. He examined her now that his battle was won and she had, even if only slightly, submitted. The hair in his hand was soft and smooth, and fell to her waist. Her aura mingled with his own, he realized, yet it was slowly succumbing to his, as was expected. She was not his equal in strength, even with his true power subdued as it was.

Still, as he looked at her, she seemed so wild. She wasn't like any other female he had ever encountered. She was…wild. She was burning and full of her own power. She was like a bonfire. A burning red fire.

He roughly released her hair and turned away from her. "Take her away," he said.

Three men came to grab her, one putting a sword to her throat, when Sesshomaru grabbed his arm and pulled it back. "No," he snapped.

The solider was startled, "S-Sir?"

Sesshomaru pushed the him away, then, with Akane now standing, he grabbed her arm and pulled her away from the soldiers. "Kaito," he called.

"Yes, my lord," Kaito stepped forward, bowing to Sesshomaru, who pushed the still hand-tied Akane towards him.

"Take her," Sesshomaru commanded.

Kaito, for once, seemed baffled, "To…where, my lord?" he asked.

Sesshomaru thought about that, then said, "Have her locked away for a time until I can decide what to do with her," he said, "Three guards by her cell. Go." He waved them off.

Kaito bowed to Sesshomaru, and while holding Akane's arm, lead her away.

Sesshomaru went to the servant who held Tensagia in his hands. The Servant held up the sword while bowing his head as low as possible, and Sesshomaru snatched it away to examine the sheath and blade.

Nothing was wrong. There wasn't a scratch on it anywhere. As he held it, the blade seemed to pulse in his hand, as if noticing it had returned to its master. However, images also pulsed through his mind of Akane. How she had snuck into the palace, how she had gotten through Sesshomaru's barriers, and how she had gotten to the Tensagia.

It irritated him to know end that this female, no matter how crafty, had successfully found a way through all his defenses and into his palace.

Irritated…and intrigued him.

--

Akane sat in the cell in the palace basement. She tucked her knees under her chin on the corner-bed of straw, her ankles bound by enchanted chains that canceled out her demonic powers, making even her basic defenses like her claws useless. She was sulking, yes, but she was allowed to.

She promised her mother she would never let herself be caught. The old woman had enough to worry about in her life, a daughter like her only added to the problems.

Of course, she had been dead for years now, and probably was shaking her head at her in the afterlife for this one. Not only had she been caught, but she picked the absolute _worse_ person to rob. Had really _known_ who lived here, she might've gone to a different palace.

'Sesshomaru, huh?' she thought, 'Weird name…'

She stretched her arms over her head and spread her legs with a long yawn. In her treatment on the way to see the western lord she had robbed, the men had beaten her pretty well before Kaito, their captain, stopped them. She had a few bruises that were slow to heal, and some cuts. But she had lost her hair-tie, which is was bothered her most, since her hair was slowly becoming filled with straw.  
"Wonder what Mama would say," she muttered to herself as she leaned back on the cold wall, "If she saw me in this place."

Her old, feeble mother passed almost two hundred years ago when she was only 19, around the time when she stopped aging. Of course, she wasn't her _real_ mother, she adopted her. She was a human woman, who was childless, and had lost her husband to sickness only some time before.

Akane had many found memories of that woman, and missed her dearly, sometimes more than her real mother, which always made her feel guilty.

"Food," someone called, and the gate opened just long enough for a sack of bread and a bowl of rice to be slid in along with a water-skin. She looked at it, and momentarily considered a hunger strike.

"Nah," she sighed, and took the food. She sniffed it first for poison, something she was highly trained in finding, and when she concluded that the food was okay, she ate it. She was finishing it when she heard something.

"Wow," came a small voice, "You really _are_ different!"

She looked up from her food to see a little girl standing on the outside of her cell, leaning in as if to look closer at her, like she was some prized pet on display. It annoyed her, and she growled at her. "Get out of here, kid," she snapped, "You'll get in trouble if they find you."

"No I won't," the girl said, very sure of herself.

"Oh really?" Akane rolled her eyes, leaning back as she drank some water, "What makes you so sure?"

"Sesshomaru-sama always saves me," she giggled.

Akane blinked, lowering the water-skin slowly, 'Wait…this kid…are we really thinking about the same guy?' She wondered if there were _two_ Sesshomaru's here for a moment. The demon she met didn't seem like the kind of fella who really cared about some kid.

"What's your name?" Akane asked.

"Rin," the girl answered cheerfully, "What's yours?"

"…Akane," Akane answered. An introduction wasn't something was trying to convey, but she got a whiff of the girls sent when she jumped slightly, seemingly very pleased to learn her name. She was _human_.

"Akane-chan," Rin chimed with a big smile, "Can we be friends?"

Akane huffed, "I don't think so."

Rin's face became suddenly very said, "Why not?"

Akane instantly felt guilt wash through her, "…because, if you haven't noticed, I'm in here," she pointed down at the floor around her, "And you're out there," she pointed to Rin, "Just to name _one_ thing."

Rin blinked, "So…if I can get you out _here_," Rin pointed to the ground at her feet, "Then we could be friends?"

Akane rolled her eyes. 'She's quite a simple kid, isn't she?' "It's never going to happen, Rin. Sorry. I bet your 'Sesshomaru' is plotting my death as we speak."

Rin frowned at this, then smiled, "Akane-neechan! If I get you out, you have to promise to be Rin's best friend!"

Akane sighed as let her head fall back and gently hit the stone wall, "Fine, Rin, fine," she said, unable to see the hurt on Rin's face when she again tried to say _no_ to being friends, "_IF_ you get me out, I'll be your friend."

"Promise?" Rin asked, and held, through the bars, her pinky finger.

Akane blinked. She hadn't seen that sign since she was only a bit younger than Rin. It made her smile, bringing back those found childhood memories of making swear-promises with her human friends. She reached over and linked her pinky with Rin's and smiled, "Promise."

Rin smiled, and then skipped away, humming a tune Akane never hear before.

"Strange kid," Akane said as she tried to watch Rin disappear through her cell bars. She leaned back against the wall again, and thought, with closed eyes, "…I wonder, what a human's even doing here, anyway?"

--

**A/N:** And, meet Akane! ^^ It was actually a picture of her that inspired this story. She had no name at first, and she was going to have _blue _hair...but my blue color pencile wasn't working, so I wanted to make it brown, but I accidently used a red pen to out-line her hair and...well, I guess it was fate...XD

So far, I really like Akane! I think I'm going to have a lot of fun with her!

Please review and thanks for reading!

--_Alma Theresa_


	4. Screaming

**3: Screaming**

Akane wasn't sleeping. She couldn't sleep. Not here.

She could feel it even now, the demonic energy that swirled through the basement. It was dark and evil, and made her stomach turn. It wrecked, making her want to cough, but she laid still, curled in a ball, and pretended to be sleeping.

"Has it been done?" rasped one voice to another.

"Yes, master," said a younger voice, "All according to your plan."

"What of the barrier around the grounds?"

"It will be lowered as you commanded. We have learned the weakness to it."

"What a wise disciple. Tell me how you found that out."

"The demon wench," was the answer with an evil cackle, "Thanks to her, we were able to find the weak point."

'Because of me?' Akane kept her eyes shut as she thought about how she had gotten in. It was a simple method, finding the weakest point of the barrier, sniffing out the best entry point, and then using her own power to break through. That had been a rather routine way of infiltration a demonic barrier, almost primitive. But she had been careful to cover her tracks with magic and heal the broken part of the barrier, to buy herself more time. 'How did they...?' she her brow furrowed, 'Was I…followed?'

"When will we carry out the assault?"

"Four days from now," answered the raspy voice, "Be prepared."

"What of the princess staying here?"

"She is of little importance," huffed the first, "But if she proves a problem, kill her."

"As you wish, master."

Akane listened to the retreating foot-fall of whoever the two where. Clearly, she had not only picked the _wrong_ place to rob, but the wrong _time_ as well.

--

Sesshomaru heard Rin as she came skipping down the hall to him. He kept his steady steps though, not pausing to acknowledge her. He was deep in thought about the previous night's events. Locked away in the lower levels of his palace was a demoness of his species. She was clearly a dog from her aura and scent, and yet she carried no marks of a tribe.

_'Why is that?'_ he had wondered, _'Why is this girl unmarked?'_

"Sesshomaru-sama!" Rin came up beside him, and he glanced down at her out of the corner of his eye. She smiled at him brightly, "Good morning, Sesshomaru-sama! How are you?"

Sesshomaru didn't answer her. How silly her questions were. He was clearly fine. He turned into one of the larger rooms meant for morning meals, though he had no intention of eating, though he ordered a servant to bring Rin breakfast.

Rin's food was made separately from his own and the rest of the demons who lived in his home. Human food could not sustain his kind, so other meals were prepared for him. Rin's food tasted vile to him, and he had to restrain himself from smacking it away whenever she asked, in her innocent way, if he would like some of her meal.

"Sesshomaru-sama," Rin said, "What do you plan to do with Akane-neechan?"

Sesshomaru, who had been thinking the exact same thing, looked at Rin with clear surprise. He retained his composure in seconds. "How do you know of her, Rin?" he asked.

"Rin met her," Rin said with a big smile, clearly unknowing to how her knowledge of the demoness unsettled her master, "I heard some ladies talking when they were washing the floors. They said that a thief was caught, and had been locked up in the basement. She told me her name was Akane," Rin's face turned from one of happiness to one of confusion as she said, "Does Sesshomaru-sama intend to kill Akane-neechan?"

Sesshomaru scowled at the child, and clicked his tongue, turning his gaze away and saying nothing in return to his ward.

Rin bowed her head, putting her hands in her lap, her meal hardly part-way finished. "…Does Akane-neechan really have to die?" she mumbled, "She is not evil. I can tell."

Sesshomaru said nothing. "That woman stole from me," he said, "That cannot be forgiven."

"But she gave it back!"

Sesshomaru might've laughed. _Gave it back_. 'Hardly,' he thought to himself, 'She was drug back with the sword in Kaito's hand and demon-claws to her back.'

"Sesshomaru-sama," Rin leaned closer, looking Sesshomaru dead in the eye, "Please!" she smacked her hands together, fingers before her lips as she begged, "Don't kill Akane-neechan! She is Rin's new friend!"

Sesshomaru wasn't the least bit surprised that Rin had called Akane her friend. It was in her nature to meet someone and instantly view them as such. But a friendship with Akane was highly unlikely. Even if he did spare her life, she would have to become his servant before he even considered forgiving her for her trespasses.

Sesshomaru sighed heavily. Arguing with a child wasn't something he would scoop to doing. He rose slowly to his feet, "Finish your meal, Rin," he instructed, "Then go to Jaken for your studies."

Rin frowned as Sesshomaru left, but it didn't stall him.

All this talk of Akane brought back his conversation with Kaito at dawn.

_'She is a dog demoness, a pure one, there is no doubt,'_ he had said, _'And such a commodity is in short supply in these times. We cannot afford her death, despite what she has done, Sesshomaru-sama. You must think of your kin as well as yourself.'_

Sesshomaru growled to himself. 'Even if I decide to kill her,' he realized, 'I cannot. Kaito would never allow it.'

Sesshomaru paused.

Did he really just admit that? Not that Kaito wouldn't allow it, that could easily be dealt with. But that he hadn't resigned himself to killing Akane.

He thought about when he saw her last night, struggling and defying him at every chance. She even challenged him. It was the instinct of his kind to show superiority. He had stated his title when he growled at her when she was presented to him. He was the present alpha, and she was to be submissive.

But instead of doing what all females of his kind do towards their alphas, she growled back. In doing so, she stated that she too was of high rankings. Doing this was not the same as feigning importance. It was impossible for even the other six tribe lords to look him in the eye as long as that woman had. He had threatened her with all his power, and it took a great deal of his will to get her to show even the slightest sign of submission.

But what she had done was call herself a fellow alpha of their kind. She had _challenged_ him, she had challenged him as his _equal._ That alone should've made him kill her. She should've _died_ for such an offense.

And yet…he let her _live_.

He let her live because…it intrigued him.

"That lowly bitch," he hissed to himself, running his fingers over his brow and through his hair, digging his claws into his scalp, "What is she doing to me?"

--

Umeko threw yet another priceless piece of history at the walls of her room and her maids leapt out of the way just before it shattered into a thousand shards. This had been a familiar scene since she had last seen Sesshomaru.

"That complete _bastard!_" she bellowed, "All because of that stupid little human brat! How _dare_ he talk about my hair like it is nothing! He spoke of it like it was _NOTHING!"_ she lifted up, in her two hands, a beautiful porcelain dragon statue, an ancient and priceless artifact, and threw it to the ground at her feet so that it split into tiny pieces.

Her head hand-maid stood to the side, and watched her lady's tantrum without even a twitch. She had destroyed three rooms' decorations, cut down eight of the cherry-blossom trees in the gardens, and poisoned two koi ponds, killing the fish. The other eight maids of Umeko gathered around the old demoness.

"Shouldn't we stop her, Mamori-san?" asked one in a small voice.

"If these keeps up, she may destroy the entire palace!" said another.

"Or worse, something Sesshomaru-sama actually cares for," muttered another.

The old maid, Mamori, let out a breath through her nose and said, "Let her go. As long as she is kept to this quarter of the palace, she will be fine."

Umeko heard the muttering of her maids and spun around to face them, "You!" she pointed to the group, and the younger maids all flinched and gasped, trying to hide behind Mamori, "All of you! What are you whispering over there!?"

"N-Nothing, my lady!" squeaked one.

"Bah!" Umeko snapped, storming over and grabbing the hair of the one that spoke, yanking her away from Mamori, shouting into her face, "You _lie_! I'll have to punish you!"

"N-No, Umeko-sama! Please!" the maid cried.

"Umeko-sama, don't do it!" cried another maid.

"We beg of you! Show her mercy!"

"Silence, you crying girls!" Umeko used the back of her hand to smack the nearest speaker across the face, leaving three thin scratches on her face that burned with her venom, "You are all pathetic!"

She looked at the girl whose hair she was holding. It was near her color, and she gently stroked it. "Hmm…what pretty hair you have," she cooed, smiling at her, "Lovely hair, truly."

The maid looked terrified as Umeko held up her claws, "I will be carful not to ruin it for you."

--

Rin hummed as she skipped along through the halls of the palace. She was going to find Jaken, who had become her teacher since she arrived here in Sesshomaru's palace. As she rounded the corner, she stopped, hearing a sound. It came from down another corridor, towards the guest wing.

Rin hesitated at first, but slowly walked down that hall instead, going off her normal path. She followed the sound to a small, strangely dark room. There, a woman sobbed in a shadowed corner, her back to Rin. She recognized her kimono as one of the visiting princess' servants. She slowly walked towards the girl.

"Um…excuse me?" Rin said as she neared, reaching out a hand, "Are you okay, neechan?"

The girl pulled as far away from Rin as she could, until she was backed into the corner. Her breathing became a mixture of her sobs and hissing at Rin.

Rin started to pull away, but then saw part of the girl's face. It was covered in blood, and her eye was swollen shut. Her long hair was stained as well, and the front of her kimono was soaked with the red liquid, turning the blue colors a ominous black.

Rin covered her mouth to silence a gasp, "Oh no! You're bleeding!" she tried to get closer, "Let Rin see! I will help!" she reached out to touch her.

The woman snapped. She let out a feral screech and lashed out at the little human girl.

Rin screamed.

--

Akane jerked at the sound. A scream? Had she dreamed it? No, she heard the ruckus above her. Had the attack that she heard the men last night planning already begun?

She jumped up, her chains rattling as she grabbed a hold of the bars and stuck her head out as far as possible. "You there! Guard!" she cried to one of the men standing watch over her cell, "What is happening!?"

The guard turned to scowl at her, "How would I know? I'm watching you, bitch."

Akane gritted her fangs together to growl at him, "Find out, you useless bastard! What was that scream I just heard!?"

The man turned and was reaching for his sword, clearly going to force her to be silent and get back into her cell, when down the steps rushed another guard, "Hurry! We need all the men we can upstairs! There is a mad woman loose!"

'A mad woman?' Akane blinked as the men ran off. She quickly jerked herself back into reality as all her guards disappeared, "Hey! Hey! Hey! Wait a second! _WHAT ABOUT ME!?!"_ she shouted, but they were already gone. "Dammit," she hissed, pulling herself back inside, "What a pain…" she fell back on her bottom and rested her arms over her knees.

'Great, I finally get rid of the guards, but they take the keys to my chains _with_ them…' she groaned, falling back onto the ground, her arms spread out on either side of her, "My life sucks…" she mumbled.

Only a few seconds later, she heard footsteps. She lifted her head up to look and saw a man standing in front of her cell. "Who the hell are you?" she said curtly, scowling at him.

Her answer was a smirk and he threw something through the bars. She caught it effortlessly in one hand. Dangling from a small rope was a strange, silver key about the size of her index finger.

"That is the key to your chains," said the man, "You can leave and be free, or you can stay and face Sesshomaru. It is your choice now."

Akane looked at the man, grasping the key tightly in her hands. Upstairs, she heard the shouts and cries of the palace occupants.

"Time is wasting," said the man, grinning at her, "What will you do?"

--

"Sesshomaru-sama!!" Jaken had burst into Sesshomaru's meeting without warning, making the dog lord scowl at him without any remorse. He seriously considered murdering the little toad.

"Sesshomaru-sama! O-One of Princess Umeko's maids has gone savage!" Jaken cried, "She has taken Rin hostage in the servant chambers!"

This made Sesshomaru forget himself, his advisors who he had been meeting with, and Jaken has he disappeared from the room. In a split second, he was right where the rest of the palace had gathered.

"S-Sesshomaru-sama!" they all cried, bowing to him. Sesshomaru quickly picked out one of his higher officers and demanded to know why the woman hadn't been desposed of yet. "The maid has the girl! No one can get near her without the threat of the woman doing her some harm!"

"_SESSHOMARU-SAMA!!!"_ came yet another scream, _"THE PRISONER HAS ESCAPED!!"_

Sesshomaru let out a hiss at those words. In only a few days, it felt like his entire empire was falling apart around him.

--

Akane didn't leave just yet. She had to know about that scream. She knew it was Rin's, it had to be. She followed Rin's scent and discovered her room was not far from Sesshomaru's. 'Odd accommodations…' she thought, but after getting a better scent, a fresher one, from Rin's things, she was able to follow it and find a better trail.

She had stolen a simple maid's kimono from the lower-levels after she had left her cell. The man who gave her the key disappeared before she even had her shackles off. She didn't get his name, but she'd know him when she saw him again. _If _she saw him again.

'Just fine Rin, make sure she's okay, and get out of here,' Akane told herself as she hurried along, 'The sooner you're gone the better.'

Through all this chaos, no one seemed to recognize her or find her out of place. They were all to busy doing something else that either had to do with panicking, or trying to fake calmness while panicking on the inside.

Akane listened to maids and servants' frantic speech and gathered what she needed to know. "She has the human girl Sesshomaru-sama brought home hostage! I fear that if anything happens to that girl, it will be the entire staff who pays the price!"

"Who is that savage woman, anyway?"

"I believe it's one of the visiting princess's hand-maids. They say she was covered in blood. Maybe she tried to kill herself."

"I know I would with that spoiled princess as my mistress…"

Akane was able to put enough together from the talk to know where to find the "mad woman". And from the talk, she also learned that indeed, Rin was in danger. She rushed to find the servants quarters before it was to late.

It took her more time than she would've liked, and when she got there, she couldn't get past the crowd. People were either running to the room or away from it. Soldiers she recognized from the previous night or from the guards of her cell didn't even seem to notice her. All the better, but she still couldn't reach the room. She looked around for another way in.

She saw a small hall meant for servants only, beginning to push and elbow her way through the crowd, avoiding eye-contact with any solider as she went. When she was finally free, she ran down the small hall way until she was out in the opening of one of the small open hall-ways.

She jumped onto the protective rail, and then pulled herself onto the roof, running bare-foot across the sun-baked tiles, making her feet burn. She didn't care. She followed the sound and smells until she knew she was over what she supposed was the servant room. She could still here the voices from the crowd.

She was contemplating how she wanted to do this. She didn't want to startle an already insane woman who could possibly hurt Rin, but if she hesitated, then one of the soldiers might get careless, putting Rin at further risk. She was kneeling down, running her hands along the tile, knocking on it to try and find a weak point, when her ears caught something.

_"SESSHOMARU-SAMA! THE PRISONER HAS ESCAPED!"_

She had been found out. Not only that, but Sesshomaru had to be present to hear that comment. Now she paused. If she did this, then she would no doubt be seen. She realized that even if Sesshomaru was not there, she would instantly be recognized as the theif who had been locked away and was now loose. She would be caught again, and would undoubtedly die for her crimes on top of trying to escape.

As she thought about this, she heard something. Rin let out another scream, and Akane bit her lip. "_DAMN IT ALL TO HELL!!" _she bellowed, and pulled back her arm, curling her hand into a fist and focusing a good part of her power into her hand, preparing to strike.

--

It was like and explosion. The roof to the servants quarters fell in, and debris along with pieces of the roof came falling in. Sesshomaru stopped just as he entered the small room, startled, and he heard Rin scream again in her own surprise.

There was a hissing noise as the dust kicked up, blocking his vision and clouding his nose. He growled as he heard a scuffle, not knowing what was happening and worrying about Rin. He moved his claws down in a strike at the air, and it was instantly cleared.

He was surprised at what he saw.

Akane had the handmaid by the throat, holding her high of the ground, her head nearly touching what remained of the ceiling, claws digging into her flesh and causing more blood to mingle with the older, drying blood. Her lips were curled back into a snarl as she bore her fangs at the woman, her other hand digging her claws into the maid's wrist.

The woman struggled to breathe, her free hand trying to pry Akane's from her neck, her mouth opening in closing like a dying fish as her legs tried to kick out. Rin was on the ground, covering her head, just behind Akane.

Taking in this scene only took Sesshomaru a split second. Then he was behind Akane. He stepped over Rin and grabbed the red-head's neck, pulling her back and throwing her against the opposite wall. The maid crumpled to the floor and took in gasping breaths, coughing, but Sesshomaru paid her no heed. He was staring down Akane.

Akane looked back after she got her feet under her, sitting in a crouch. She hissed at Sesshomaru angrily, her red hair falling over one shoulder, masking her left eye as red bleed into them, the violet iris becoming a pale yellow.

Sesshomaru's lips turned up in his own snarl. He wouldn't allow this bitch to challenge his authority again. He lunged at her and grabbed her by her hair, lifting her up and throwing her again, this time with enough force to send her through the wall.

She artfully turned in her jump and landed on her feet, skidding in the dirt just outside the servants quarters in a one of the larger gardens, the palace wall just behind her. She remained in a defensive crouch, though she held her claws at the ready, still growling at Sesshomaru as he leapt through the hole she had created in the wall to stand ready to fight her.

Akane was the first to charge. Sesshomaru expected this, and dodged just in time. Her claws caught only air, but she sensed him behind her, and ducked before he could lop off her head. While on the ground, she spun out her legs to try and fell him. But he jumped, and she used his flight to her advantage.

Her claws turned a deep red and she swiped them across the air _"Hell Claw!"_ she shouted, and though to the human eye it was an invisible attack, Sesshomaru saw the daggers of demonic power she scent flying at him at lightening speeds.

He dodged, but one of her claw-daggers caught his leg, ripping the fabric of his kimono and sending a small spray of blood through the air. He hissed at this, and used his Poison claws against her now. He came up behind her and tried to strike her down her back, but she turned to jump away, and he only caught her fore-arm.

He smelled her blood mingling with his poison though, that gave him a little pleasure. That was, until he felt something warm trickling down his chest. He looked to see a red stain quickly spreading over his upper chest, and heard Akane let out a laugh.

"Surprised?" she said, "When you got close enough to me, I used these," she held up something between her middle and index finger. He hissed when he saw the tiny needles that he now saw in his chest. Hundreds of them covered his front.

'A stealth attack,' he realized.

Akane looked smug, and charged again, her claws still red, "This time, I won't go easy on you!" she said.

Sesshomaru allowed her to get closer before he grinned. Akane instantly realized something was wrong and tried to halt herself, but it was too late. Sesshomaru had already decided his attack, and dashed forward before she could retreat.

The crowd in the servants quarters who came to watch were horrified. The women screamed and turned their eyes away and the male-servants all gasped, but couldn't look away. Rin was completely silent as she watched Sesshomaru's claws dig into Akane's stomach and protrude from the other side.

Akane was stone still as she braced her legs out to steady herself. Her eyes were wide, blood trailing from her mouth. She could smell it on the air, her blood, and heard it begin to drip to the ground under her and pool at her feet. He had got her.

She winced and opened her mouth in a silent scream as he retrieved his hand from her stomach. With nothing supporting her, she began to fall. She wasn't sure what happened next, she wasn't even aware of hitting the ground.

He got her…now she was going to die.

--


	5. The Mark

**4: The Mark**

Burning…everything was burning…

The fire…her whole family…she watched it burn again.

She screamed and cried. She couldn't escape the fires. She was burning too. It hurt. She was burning on the inside and couldn't escape it. Why did it hurt so much?  
She looked to her arms and saw dark fire demons wrapped around them, cackling in their weird way with glowing red eyes. She was terrified of them. She screamed and tried to brush them off her, but they only spread. She fell to her knees and cried, screaming still. "Help me! Someone! Help me!"

No one came. Still she felt the burning. Only now it was in her stomach. She wrapped her arms around her stomach and screamed. Her insides were still burning, it made her want to die. Anything was better than this. "Somebody! Please!" she cried, "Somebody just get is over with!"

The fire demons around her let out shrieks and disappeared. She suddenly felt something cold wash through her, and collapsed to her back. She was laying in utter darkness except for a dim light that showed her only shadows. She gasped still from her struggles. Still she felt the pain of the fire, and yet it was slowly cooling. Something was making it die.

She tried to see what it was. She tried to make out what was in the shadows around her. She noticed something was over her body. Her skin was exposed, and she felt a strong hand holding down her own over her head. She felt, for the first time, pain throb through her body, and the source was centered on her abdomen. But the shadow over her was running something cold and damp over her skin, making the pain intensify, then die away.

She felt it repeatedly and each time, it became more painful. She cried out a few times and tried to squirm away from it, preferring the earlier pain now to this. But the hand that held her arms in place tightened and she felt the bite of tiny daggers to her skin and stopped, only whimpering as she was forced to allow this strange, torturous shadow to continue.

Finally, the fire was gone. She felt it no more, and she was still. She shivered and felt her body sweating as the shadow rose and loomed over her. It terrified her, and she didn't even try to hide it. She was too weak, as she knew it was watching her. She could see nothing, no features that would tell her who or what it was, only that it was something that she should both fear and admire.

But she felt so weak that, despite herself, the entire scene turned black…

Akane woke to the sound of birds and the sunlight that crept through the crack in the window, casting itself, conveniently, right over her eyes. She pulled her arm over her face and tried to roll over, but froze at the pain that radiated up from her lower body and made her convulse for a moment.

"P-Please don't move!" cried a small voice, "You're wounds are still healing!"

Akane winced and her hand dropped to her stomach. The moment she felt the pain, she remembered. She had battled with Sesshomaru!

She sat up so fast that she screamed, leaning forward as she wrapped her arms around her middle. The more pain she was put through, the more she remembered about her last few conscious moments. Sesshomaru's smirk had been something that scent a jolt of fear through her. She realized that she was walking into a trap, and tried to retreat, but it was too late. He was faster than he first let on, and she found his claws through her gut and out her back before she could blink.

But, he purposely missed her vital organs.

"Damn," she breathed, "…the bastard didn't kill me!"

"No," sighed the small voice, "He did not."

Akane finally took notice of the girl sitting beside her. She blinked a few times to get rid of the remainders of sleep and took in the demoness. She was very young, and had long, glossy black hair that was pulled back just below her neck, leaving two locks to fall just before her pointed ears. She had a simple face, rather ordinary but pretty all the same. Over her left eye was a white bandage, as well as some about her throat and wrists. She wore a faded, mint green kimono with a pale pink obi, and looked down at her hands in her lap with her remaining silver eye.

She bowed lowly to Akane, "I am Chou. I am in your dept, milady."

Akane blinked, then raised an eyebrow, "Should I know you?" she asked.

Chou straightened, looking rather surprised, "You…You do not recognize me?" she asked.

Akane tilted her head and said again, "Should I?"

"…I was…" she seemed reluctant and a little ashamed, "I was…the woman you attacked…"

Akane had to think. She really couldn't recall at first, but as she thought back to what started the battle with Sesshomaru that landed her here in the first place, she snapped her fingers. "Ah! The savage woman!" she remembered with a proud grin.

Chou's head shank lower now, and Akane instantly felt bad.

"Uh, I'm sorry!" she said, "Umm…" she looked at her neck and swallowed, "That's…my fault, huh?" she pointed to the bandages.

Chou looked up, then touched the bandages, as if forgetting they were there. She then gave Akane a soft, understanding smile, "It is alright, my lady. Because of this wound, I was allowed to live."

Akane didn't even try to hide her confusion on that one, and Chou saw it and gave her a bigger smile.

"I was the handmaid of the princess Umeko, a potential bride of Sesshomaru-sama," she said, "Because of…my injuries from Umeko-sama, and her venom that seeped into my blood, I became mad. I could not control my actions. But when you put your own venom into my system, even though it was only a small dose, it counteracted Umeko-sama's, and I was able to regain my right mine when I awoke a few hours afterwards."

Akane blinked, "Well…that's all well and good," she said, "But…I'm surprised you were allowed to live. No offense, but after what you did to Rin, I wouldn't hesitate to kill you. I would've if I hadn't been stopped," she rubbed the back of her neck, feeling a bit weird to say that the way she did, with no real remorse. Maybe she should've said that with a little more guilt in her tone…

Chou didn't seem to mind. "I would've been," she said, "Sesshomaru-sama's men were going to execute me the moment I awoke, despite my story. It was Rin-chan who spoke on my behalf. Because of her, Sesshomaru-sama allowed me to live on one condition."

"Eh?" Akane blinked, "Sesshomaru spared you?"

"Yes," Chou said, and repeated again, "On one condition," she bowed lowly to Akane again, "I am to serve you as your personal handmaiden. I owe my life to you, and so I will serve you to my dying day."

Akane felt the muscle above her eye twitch. If there was anything she hated, it had to be submissive people. She took in a breath and tried her best to make a smile cross her lips, "Really, Chou, it's nothing. You don't have to do anything for me. Why don't you go and be free now, since this _Umeko_ obviously let you out of her services?"

"Oh, no milady," Chou looked horrified, "I could never face my family again if I did that!"

"Of course you couldn't," Akane sighed. How could she convince this girl that she didn't want nor need a maid? "Look, Chou," Akane pulled off the blankets and, wincing in pain, turned to face the girl, "I don't know why you'd even want to be my handmaid. I don't live in a mansion and I'm no high-ranking demon. I'm a thief, if you didn't know. I'm hired to steal things or I steal them for fun. So there is really no reason for you to be with me."

For a while, there was silence, and nothing was said. Then Chou spoke slowly, "You have been asleep for two days, Akane-sama, so I don't expect you to realize all that has happened but…" she raised her hand, "I thought you would've felt it by now."

"Hm?" Akane followed Chou's pointing finger to look at her wrist. She raised it up, inspecting what was there curiously. It was bandaged, loosely, and with a small incision of her claws the wrappings fell away.

Akane's entire body went very still. Around her wrist were very distinct marks. _Fang_ marks. They were bright right and scabbed over, clean cuts of course, but she felt them pulsing with demonic energy that tainted her own.

Her hand shook as her claws turned in on her own palm, biting into them and drawing blood. Her fangs ground together, and Chou knew what had to be coming and hurried to cover her ears. Akane let out a blood turning scream.

--

Akane stormed through the castle, still in only a white bed-robe that was loosely tied. She was either stomping her feet or running, checking every room trying to find him. Chou was hard pressed to keep up with her, trying her best to keep the acceptable distance between them. But because of Akane's rapidly changing paces and frequent stops, she was either too far behind or nearly running into her.

"Damn him…" she muttered, "Damn him…._DAMN HIM!" _she slammed her fist into the wall, making a rather large hole there. Chou winced, and called out to a servant and instructed him to have someone fix this before Sesshomaru found it.

While Chou was occupied, Akane again looked at her wrist. There was no doubt in her mind what this, coupled with the amount of power put into it, was. It was a sealing spell. Not a normal one, this was one used on prisoners of war.

When it was impossible to confine someone the traditional way, they were bitten by a strong demon, who would put a ounce of his demonic energy into the wound. It would never heal until the seal was broken, and because of this, she couldn't leave. She had to be so close to the one who casted it, or she would die slowly and painfully. She had seen this spell in action, and thought it the cruelest form of torture she had ever seen.

_'Figures __**he'd**__ use it!'_ she thought as she rushed to find him again. There was only two ways to break the spell. One, it had to be taken off, or two, the one who casted it had to die. Akane was open to either one, though the second was sounding extremely promising.

"Akane-sama," Chou hurried to follow Akane, "Please, let us go back you rooms! Your clothes are…" she didn't finish.

Akane did pause to look at herself. The robe was open, showing most of her chest off, and the sash around her middle was pretty loose. She grumbled and growled as she untied and retied the sash, making Chou squeak and jump in front of her to hide her breast as the folds opened even more.

When the robe was at least a bit more presentable, Chou resigned herself to allowed Akane to continue her search. "But I do not believe Sesshomaru-sama is here," admitted Chou.

"Oh, he's here," she held up her wrist, shaking it in Chou's sight angrily, "I _know_ he's here!" she caught a scent then. It was not Sesshomaru's, but it had his scent mingling with it. She rushed after it and Chou was again forced to try and keep up.

She found herself in a morning dining room when she flung open the doors. There was Rin, eating happily, with Sesshomaru sitting at the other side of the table. He was looking up at her like he had been expecting it, while Rin was completely surprised.

"Akane-neechan!" she cheered, "You are better now! That's great!"

"_Son of a…_" Akane pulled back her hand and moved to punch Sesshomaru in the face, "_BITCH!!"_

She wasn't surprised when Sesshomaru pulled back, but what did surprise her was when he grabbed the marked wrist, she cried out in pain as it burned. She fell to one knee and he instantly released her as she bent over, cradling the injury to her stomach.

"I wouldn't suggest trying to defy me any longer," Sesshomaru said, his voice as cold as ice, "It will only lead you to more suffering."

She scowled up at him, "You cold hearted bastard…" she hissed.

Sesshomaru said nothing, only reached onto the table for a waiting cup of boiled tea.

"Why the hell didn't you just kill me?" she demanded.

He still didn't answer her.

"Why did you do this!? What good am I to you!?"

Nothing, he just went on sipping his tea.

"_TALK!"_ she smacked the cup form his hand, but instantly regretted it as she cried out again at the burning.

He didn't even half to touch her. The mark was an extension of his power. If he wanted to, he could send it like a poison through her system and kill her there.

"I am not required to answer you, woman," he said, and grabbed her arm, raising it up so that she was forced to look both at his face and the mark at the same time, "This is to teach you a lesson if anything else."

"A lesson?" she hissed.

He growled at her, "You will learn to fear and respect this Sesshomaru. Whether or not you die in the process is up to you. But you will learn your place." He jerked her hand free and then stood up, moving to leave.

"You will remain here," he said, "as Rin's playmate."

Akane's shoulders sank, "You've _got_ to be kidding me…"

When he looked back at her, she knew right away that this was more punishment. She nearly pounced him, wanting to tear that pretty face of his to shreds. But the throbbing pain in her wrist made her stop, as warning her that he could do much worse than just the burning pain she had been feeling.

"Rin," Sesshomaru snapped.

"Yes, Sesshomaru-sama?" Rin said with a cheery voice.

"Make sure that your new…friend, stays out of trouble," and with that, Sesshomaru left, his silver mane flickering behind him in the morning breeze.

Akane couldn't help but growl at his shadow. Again, he was insulting her. He was very subtle about it, and very emotionless too, but he knew just what to do to get on her nerves. He was now entrusting her to a child. She wanted to slit his throat while she slept.

"Akane-neechan!" Rin's voice made her jerk out of her murderous thoughts to look at the innocent little girl, "Did you hear that? We get to be friends now!" she crawled closer to Akane, who made no move to get away or to get closer, "And Sesshomaru-sama is going to let you live with us! Isn't that wonderful?"

Akane's eye twitched, but she couldn't bring herself to be mad at Rin. She forced yet another smile and put a hand on her head, "Yeah, Rin…that's just….peachy," she forced.

--

Learning of what Umeko did to make the woman go mad ended it. Sesshomaru had Umeko sent her back to her lands. Only the day after, a messenger returned from Umeko's father, a dog lord. He sent his humble apologizes and, though his words were much different, begged Sesshomaru not to take offensive because of his daughter.

Sesshomaru didn't care. As long as Umeko never returned, he would let the matter go.

He was, however, none too happy with the damages his home had recently taken. On top of Umeko's rampage, there was also the matter of Akane. Akane had left a lot of holes in the servants' room, and since he wasn't about to have ill servants serving him food, he had to allow them to stay in one of the guest wings.

Then there was the garden they had wrecked during the battle. It had been one of his mother's favorites, and he had spent much time there as a pup. Truly, he didn't care for it much. But to keep up appearances, he had it redone.

He thought about the mark he left on Akane's arm. It was something he did not long after her wound began to heal. The only real reason he could think of to condone this action was to teach her. He was alpha, and he wasn't about to let a lowly female like her challenge his authority.

But he couldn't be completely sure of himself, especially after…

His mind began to wander to the night after he had defeated Akane. Her wounds had been bandaged, and he had taken care when he delivered his final blow to avoid anything that would cause lasting damage. He hadn't foreseen her strange fever.

The doctors frantically worked and warned him that she might die. Nothing they did, no remedy, seemed to break the fever. Finally, at the end of his rope, Sesshomaru ordered everyone to leave the room. He didn't need to tell them twice, because the smell of Akane's blood had made his run hot. The servants and doctors not only fled the room, but the entire wing.

It wasn't a unheard of thing, what he had done, but it was unthinkable that he did it at all to Akane. The saliva of his kind was a natural healing agent, and licking her wounds to sped the healing process was something simple. He didn't have any choice unless he was to watch her die.

He ripped away the blood soaked bandages and lowered himself over her stomach to live the open gash. The feeling of her warmth under him, the taste of her blood and sweat, it all drove him to the point of madness. It was sense and will that kept his demonic instincts from completely consuming him when she began to stir and cry out.

Yes, the saliva was a healer, but it wasn't without its payments. It was most often more painful that the wound itself, and it didn't work on internal wounds, it could only speed up the healing of the surface. However, bring the bleeding to a stop seemed to help her, and her fever broke during his healing.

But his own fever was awakened, and he had to leave as quickly as possible before he could no longer control himself.

Even now, as he recalled her taste, smell, and her whimpers, he had to force himself not to go seek her out.

He growled at himself as he ran his hand over his face, irritated beyond belief. What had he gotten himself into this time?

"Well, Sesshomaru-sama," came a familiar voice. Sesshomaru saw Kaito appear out of one of the studies, grinning at him, "It would seem that you have decided to spare the demoness, yes?"

He glared at him, "Would you have allowed me to kill her?"

Kaito seemed to think about this, "Probably not, no, my lord," he grinned.

Sesshomaru gave him a grunt and walked around him, "Then I have succeeded in avoiding you're lectures again. Good day, Kaito."

"One moment," Kaito hurried to follow, "You sent the princess Umeko home, did you not?"

"Of course," Sesshomaru stated, as if that was the obvious thing to do.

"Then what do you intend to do about your deadline? You only have until the end of the year to pick your mate!"

Sesshomaru turned on Kaito, scowling at him, "Do you honestly mean to stick me with that one?" he growled, "Umeko can drive servants to madness. I would not allow it to go so far, and kill her myself."

"That is understandable," Kaito sighed, looking up at the ceiling, "But there are _other_ princess!"

"I have already sent the summons," Sesshomaru grumbled, "You were there at the composing of them."

"Indeed, I remember," Kaito muttered, "But what I meant was—"

"Enough, Kaito," Sesshomaru sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose, "It has been…a trying past few days. Leave me." He waved his advisor away, and Kaito, though he didn't want to, bowed as Sesshomaru retreated into his own room.

He intended to spend the rest of the day in his bed, to hell with the consequences. He removed his clothes and laid down on the soft futon and closed his eyes, instantly wrapped in the bliss of sleep…if only for a moment.

--

**EDIT NOTICE:** Okay, so most of the story is created in my mind during the day, and written from nine to three in the morning...so many of you may have notice that the grammar and spelling sucks more than usual for me. T-T

As it is, I also learned that my research on the sibling "niichan" was in vain and I got the wrong site or something, because while I thought the "nii" meant sister, it is "nee"...damn you wikipedia...*shakes fist*

So I would like to thank my reader who pointed this out to me. It means a lot to have someone correct that mistake. So, thank you muchly to AznPuffyHair!! XD

I hope, despite my many errors, you keep reading and reviewing!

--Alma Theresa


	6. Besiege

**5: Besiege**

"How much longer do we have to wait?" growled one demon to the other, "I am growing tired of listening to that tyrant!"

"Patients, brother," the other answered, "The Master said we had to wait. It is not yet time."

The first hissed, "This is foolishness! We should attack now, and leave his corpse to rot in the morning sun!" He flexed his large claws, smiling with his fangs glowing in the flickering torch light, "I want to feel the blood of his line on my claws! I want to _feel_ it, brother!"

"Be quiet," the second smacked the first over the head so hard that it made his neck crack and skull cracked against the wall. The demon whimpered and held his head as he felt the pain of his fellows strike. "The Master told us to wait, and the master had never steered us wrong."

"B-But brother…" the first said, "I am not the only one who feels that we have waited long enough. Some say that we should've killed the bitch-princess as well."

"She is nothing more than a nuisance to the Master," huffed the second, "She left, so there is no point in killing her."

"Isn't the goal of this raid to kill _all_ of the line?" the demon grinned, "Killing any potential mate he may have will ensure that it ends."

"You know our mission!" snapped the second, raising his hand again and making his comrade flinch away, "We will not attack until we are given the order. Our part is small in this ordeal."

"Bah," huffed the first, "The part we play will be big enough. And the master has given us a promise that we shall never die at the hands of that vile dog!"

The other demon didn't say anything, and then rose up, "Come on, you idiot. We have work to do."

The first demon hissed, "This is something I will have my revenge for. Serving that dog like a loyal pet…"

"Just get moving," growled the second, "We do not need any reason to look suspicious." He started to walk out of the small room they had been meeting in, a place where they were safe from the eyes of the rest of the palace.

The two demons walked together through the palace and no one thought different of them. They were faces that they knew, some even smiled and bowed to them. They had successfully blended into the everyday life of this place. And they were extremely smug about it.

--

Akane couldn't believe her bad luck. She sat on the steps to the small garden, dressed in a extraordinary kimono of dark purple with silver designs, and a black and gold obi. She hadn't wanted to look so formal, but Chou said that until the merchants came with the new shipment of cloth, it was all they had for her to wear.

"Sesshomaru-sama was very clear that you couldn't wear that thief's outfit again," Chou said, "He made sure to order some new kimono when he sent out for Rin-chan's new clothes."

Akane's hair had also been brushed and pull back in a bun, which was a nice change from having it down. But what really got her goat was the fact that she was forced to stay with Rin waking moment. If she was seen without the girl by anyone, they'd ask about her, and assume something was wrong for them to be separated. Sesshomaru had insured that she couldn't get away from the child, so even if he wasn't watching her, he had ensured that she couldn't escape or try to remove his spell on her wrist.

She didn't dislike Rin. She couldn't find one thing about this child to hate, though her constant questions did get a little annoying, but she always held a soft place for children, and the little girl had made quick work of Akane.

"Akane-neechan!" Rin came over to where Akane sat. She had flowers in her hair that Akane had braided there, and wore a chain of more flowers around her neck. She held up something to Akane, "What do you think of this! I did it just as you said!"

Akane looked and smiled. Sure enough, the girl had successfully followed Akane's instructions on how to make a weaved blanket of wild-flowers. "Well done," she said, taking the small rectangle of assorted flowers, "It looks very good, Rin-chan."

Rin seemed delighted with Akane's praise and quickly turned to find more flowers, leaving Akane to lay the small blanket in her lap. Rin was a lot like a girl Akane knew from her youth in the human village. She was a sickly child, and didn't see womanhood, but she loved flowers. It was she who taught Akane how to weave the flower blanket.

The memories of her human home made Akane sigh. She looked up at the sky, which was overcast on this spring day, and thought about all that had happened to her in such short a time. Not only had she had her reputation tainted as the demon-thief who had never been caught, but she had her dignity and freedom stripped away when Sesshomaru decided to place his damn mark on her.

It made her hate him all the more.

"Akane-neechan," Akane was pulled out of her thoughts, "Tell Rin again about your home!" the child smiled at her brightly.

Akane raised an eyebrow, "I told you four times already," she said.

"I like to hear about it," she said, "Please?"

Akane rolled her eyes, "I told you, I was an orphan. A stranger found me and took me to a village where a widow woman took me in as her daughter. I was raised there by her and the rest of the villagers. They were very kind to me, even though I was a demon. It was a very nice time, but it didn't last very long. I grew up, and I had to leave. It is the way of the world."

"Did Akane-neechan's mother miss her when she left?" Rin asked.

Akane blinked. This was a new question. She casted her eyes down and thought of her human mother. She was so old and feeble in her final memories, and Akane remembered feeling helpless as the old woman's body failed her and she died. "…I suppose she did," Akane answered, "I miss her very much."

Rin noticed that her questions made Akane sad, and quickly thought of something else to do. "Akane-neechan! Let's play a game!" she said with a big smile.

Akane looked at Rin, "A game? What kind of game?" she asked.

"One that Kagome-neechan taught me!" she skipped away, pulling on Akane's hand, "Come on! It's fun!"

Akane allowed herself to be dragged out by the child. She was the girl's _playmate_, she wasn't allowed to refuse playing her game.

--

"A message arrived from the lord, Hattori," bowed the servant, and held out a scroll to Sesshomaru.

Sesshomaru looked at the servant who brought him the message before he took the scroll from his hands. The servant bowed again and quickly excused himself from the room. Sesshomaru unfurled the message. It was a short response to his summons of his daughter.

_'You're consideration of my daughter as your mate is much appreciated. She will arrive in two weeks from this date. I hope that your palace is well and your rein is great. Lord Hattori.'_

Sesshomaru crumbled the scroll with a huff and threw it away. He wasn't sure how he would deal with another princess. He was still trying to clean up Umeko's mess. It did help to have Rin occupied with Akane, but he didn't pretend to not be interested in what the two did. Akane had only been living as Rin's playmate for a day, but the girl had already been successful in getting the demoness to play games that would normally fall on Jaken to do. He knew that the little toad was happy for that.

Still, he started towards the room where he knew that Kaito would be waiting, no doubt he already knew about the incoming princess of Hattori.

As he went, he was surprised to hear a little scream. He quickly followed it, prepared to find something else gone wrong, only to nearly be knocked over as Rin dashed past him without even taking true notice. She was laughing as she ran, and Sesshomaru found that he had to press himself to the wall ask Akane shoved him out of her way.

"Move it, dog!" she snapped, and ran after Rin, both laughing and running through the halls, servants and maids moving out of their way.

"Akane-sama!" the handmaid Chou came hurrying over, "You shouldn't be running! You're wounds will reopen!" She gasped as she saw Sesshomaru and bowed, "My sincerest apologies, Sesshomaru-sama!"

Sesshomaru paid her apology no heed and looked after the two chasing girls. "What are they doing?" he said, not even masking the confusion in his voice.

"It is a game that Rin learned," Chou answered, "It is called 'Freeze Tag', only Rin-chan is not playing it right," Chou sighed, "The rules she told us where that we had to remain frozen, but when Rin-chan moved, she did not freeze again when Akane-sama tagged her. So the game has quickly turned to a game of chase…"

Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes as Rin came running around him once again after they had circled the garden. This time, she did see him, and gave him a big smile. Her feet ran with more purpose as she dashed forward and grabbed onto Sesshomaru's hand tightly, crying out, "Sesshomaru-sama is the safe-base!" she cried to Akane.

Akane came running, "Fat chance!" she cried, "I'll get you still!" she jumped for Rin, who squealed and dodged away, and Akane missed her on purpose.

Rin dashed to hide behind Sesshomaru, who growled at her for using him as a shield. "No! The rules say that you can't get me at the safe-base! I can't be caught as long as I'm touching Sesshomaru-sama!"

"We agreed the tree was the safe-base!" Akane pointed out, "You can't change it!"

"Yes I can," Rin giggled.

"Not in the middle of the game! It's not fair!"

"Is to! Sesshomaru-sama is the new safe-base, and Rin has won!" Rin stuck out her tongue with a playful giggle.

"You cheated to win!" Akane tried to grab her, but only succeeded in chasing Rin around Sesshomaru in a circle, "You can't cheat Rin! It's bad! You'll have bad-luck for cheating!"

Rin jumped away and the chase continued, and Akane scrambled to follow. Chou gave Sesshomaru a bow again and then hurried to follow them. Sesshomaru growled at the entire seen. He couldn't believe what he had gotten himself into. He hadn't brought another demon into his home. He had brought another _child_.

--

It was late. Akane sat with her legs hanging over the edge of the porch with Rin's head rested against her thigh, fast asleep with a smile on her face. They had tried to pick out shapes in the night stars, something Rin loved to do at night. She would find rabbit and birds and even the strange toad-demon Jaken. She eventually started to nod off, and laid her head on Akane's lap to sleep.

Akane smiled at her, stroking her hair with her fingers, like her human-mother had done to help her sleep. They had played games all day, tiring her out. She'd sleep well tonight.

"Akane-sama," Chou was sitting just behind Akane, "Should we take Rin-chan to her room?"

"Not just yet," Akane said, "I don't want to wake her."

Chou bowed her head, showing she had heard Akane's words. Akane found herself interested in Chou. She didn't know much about her except that she had gone crazy due to the poison of her former mistress. She looked at Chou, "How was it that you came to this palace anyway?" she asked.

Chou blinked, "I was a handmaid of Umeko-sama. Didn't I say this?" she asked.

"Yes," Akane agreed, "But…why was Umeko here in the first place? Is she related to Sesshomaru?"

"Certainly not!" gasped Chou, "She was a potential bride for Sesshomaru-sama!"

"Potential bride?" Akane frowned, "You mean he doesn't have a mate?"

"No," Chou said, "And that is the problem. A lord must have a wife to rule. Sesshomaru-sama has been…overlooked this long, but there will surely be revolts if he doesn't follow the laws that have been in place for thousands of years."

"So what's the hold up?" she huffed, "You'd think he'd just get some broad and get it over with."

"It's not that simple," Chou said, "Not only does he have limited time, but also…well, limited resources."

"Eh?" Akane looked at her, raising an eyebrow.

Chou couldn't help but sigh at how little knowledge Akane had of her own species, "The dog-demons are becoming fewer and fewer. It's a strange thing, and Sesshomaru-sama is one of the last remaining six tribes."

"Only six tribes?" she blinked, "I thought there were twelve! What happened?"

Chou shrugged, "No one knows. But Sesshomaru-sama's tribe has always been the strongest of them, so he has to mate to keep his blood-line alive. But there are only three princesses eligible for marriage. Umeko-sama was one of the three that Sesshomaru-sama could choose from."

Akane huffed, leaning back on her hands as she looked up at the sky, "So…I'm part of a dying nation, huh?"

"I'm afraid so," answered Chou.

Akane looked down at Rin. Mating and kids wasn't on her top ten list of things to do. If anything, she didn't even want pups. They seemed like too much of a hassle, if they were going to be anything like Rin. Scratch that, they'd be Rin intensified, they'd be _demons_.

Rin stirred and cuddled closer to Akane's leg and tightened her grip on Akane's skirts. She stared at the girl for a moment, then smiled and patted her head. "I think its time for us all to get some good sleep in our own beds, right Chou?" she smiled at the maid, who gave Akane a thankful smile. She was just as worn out at keeping up with both Akane and Rin as the two of them where.

Akane moved to pick up Rin, pulling her closer to cradle her in her arms, when she felt a jolt go through her senses. _'DANGER!'_ They warned.

"Chou! Get down!" Akane ordered. Chou quickly listened and dropped to the ground as, from the sky, came a barrage of arrows. They stuck all around them, the roof, garden ground, and floors becoming littered with their shafts. Akane turned her back to the attack and shielded Rin's head. Two arrows struck her, sinking into her shoulder blade and another grazing her cheek, wedging into the wall just above Chou's head as the maid looked up at her lady, who's body was also shielding her.

"Run!" Akane barked, "Get up! Run! _RUN!"_ She pulled Chou to her feet and pushed her forward and they ran. All hell broke loose in the palace. The servants and maids came running out screaming as they were chased by demons wearing dark masks and blandishing swords and bows as they struck down the innocent staff.

Chou screamed as one grabbed her by the arm and moved to run her through, but Akane quickly lopped off his head with her claws and pulled Chou onward. She shoved her into a small store room and shoved the now waking Rin into her arms. "Protect her!" she snapped, "Stay here and don't leave! I'll be back!"

"Akane-sama!" Chou cried, "Where are you going!? _Akane-sama!!_"

Akane slammed the door shut and, using a small amount of her demonic energy, put a seal over the door. It would keep the demons out, but it would also keep them in, which could be equally as dangerous if she wasn't careful. But she had to do it. She slew three more of the attacking masked demons as they charged at her and then grabbed a living forth one.

"Talk!" she demanded, "Who are you!? Who do you serve!?"

The demon smiled under his mask, and then he began to convulse. His eyes rolled back and Akane cursed, shaking him, "You bastard!" she ripped off the mask and blinked rapidly. She recognized this man. She threw him away and hissed in her fury, running towards the main house.

The dead demon who had poisoned himself was one of the palace guards!

--

Sesshomaru easily slew his would-be assassins when they tried to kill him in his sleep. He heard them when he entered the room, hiding in his ceiling. It wasn't hard, and he had waited for them to strike first. But he didn't foresee that their attack was only the beginning. He was being raided.

He killed more demons that defiled his home as he dashed through the halls. Rin wasn't in his room. The scent of blood and smoke tainted the air, making it nearly impossible to find a steady scent. He spun around as another demon tried to attack him from behind.

The floors were littered with bodies of both the masked enemies and his staff. Many of his guards were dead, and he still heard screams and the sounds of battle from all around him. He ignored them and tried to fin Rin.

He kept running, killing all of the masked rebels who appeared in his path, growing more enraged with every minor distraction that kept him from his goal. He was growling and near transformation when he found a familiar scent to follow.

He found not Rin, but Kaito battling a hoard of the masked attackers. He was wounded, nursing a bleeding arm and had a nasty head wound bleeding down the side of his face, yet he still swung out with his sword and claws, snarling and growling at the enemies as he went.

Sesshomaru used his claw-whip to lop the heads of Kaito's attackers off before hurrying to his advisor's side as he fell to one knee, clutching his useless arm.

"I am glad to see you are safe, Sesshomaru-sama," Kaito grinned at him, bowing his head, "I feared that they had bested you, their numbers are so great…"

"These low-level demons cannot defeat this Sesshomaru," Sesshomaru growled at Kaito, disgusted that he could even think he would allow himself to die to a lowly rebellion force like this, "What has happened?"

"They breached the barrier," Kaito said, "The Northern Gate was demolished. We had no warning. Many of your army was murdered before they could even grab their weapons."

"Have they no claws and fangs?" he huffed, "They were foolish to trust steal over their own powers."

"Perhaps so," Kaito agreed, though he seemed rather ashamed of himself for saying it. "This force…they are stronger than they appear, Sesshomaru-sama. You must be careful."

"Get up, you old fool," Sesshomaru grabbed him by his good arm and pulled him to his feet, "You will not die here."

"I do not plan on it," Kaito said, though he grinned at Sesshomaru's small ounce of kindness at helping him to his feet. "I only mean to say that raiding your palace may not be what they are after."

Before Sesshomaru could press him as to what he meant, Kaito pushed Sesshomaru away from him. Sesshomaru hissed at the action, but then he saw why. From behind Sesshomaru game a strange figure in all black, and the sword meant for Sesshomaru's blood now ran Kaito threw.

Sesshomaru let out a roar as he exploded forward.

--

Akane heard it. It made her hair stand on end. Her claws where blood soaked, her kimono ripped up to her knees in uneven cuts. At her feet were the bodies of the masked soldiers who had tried to attack her, but found she wasn't that easy to dispatch.

But that sound is what made her pause, even her enemies became deathly still. It was a sound that made Akane's very soul quiver. As soon as the sound ceased, the attack continued. Akane tore her eyes from the night sky to crack her claws, swiping downward _"Hell Claw!"_ she cried, and the demons' chests split open in a spray of blood.

She didn't even wait for them to fall before she rushed towards the sound. She knew it had to be Sesshomaru. She didn't know why he would be making such a sound, but if anyone could end this, it would be him.

--


	7. White Viper

**6: White Viper**

Akane's lungs labored as she ran. Why couldn't she find him!? It felt like she was going in circles! She kept seeing the same hall ways, the same dead bodies, and the same blood splatters on the walls. She never seemed to get any closer to the scent she was following. She never seemed to be getting _anywhere_.

She would stop to look around, turning slowly while her breathing never steadied. It was all the same. She was running in circles when she knew she was trying to go straight. She was seeing the same bodies, hearing the same dying moans and war-cries. Nothing was changing; it was like everything was replaying over again, like she was stuck in this moment in time.

'What the hell is this!?' she thought as she started to run again, 'What the hell is going on!?' She kept running, trying to keep herself going straight. It still wasn't working. She kept seeing it, the same things, the same faces, the same sounds. Everything was the exact _same_.

She stopped again, running her hands up her face and gripping handfuls of her hair, a frustrated hiss escaping her teeth as she stood in the same place as before. "What is going on!?!" she shouted.

There was a strange laughter coming from somewhere. It started out as a distant chuckle, but grew, like it was coming closer. Akane growled and braced herself, claws ready as she tried to pin-point the source of the sound.

_Poor lost child…_

_ Yes, yes, little lost child…._

_ Doesn't belong anywhere…not even here…_

_ No family…not welcomed among humans or among demons…_

Akane hissed and lashed out at shadows. They bent away and swayed, and the image of the room began to ripple like thick gel before returning to its normal shape. 'An illusion,' Akane realized with a click of her tongue. "Show yourself!" Akane called, "Or…selves, since there are more of you!" she added.

_Violent child…_

_ Yes, very violent…_

_ Her violence is because of deep rooted hate…_

_ Because of what she is…_

_ What she had done…cannot be forgiven…_

"What the hell are you talking about?" Akane grumbled. Why did her heart speed up? Why did it hurt to breathe? She began wheezing and grasped her neck. The air was thick with a poison gas, making her eyes cloud and her mouth taste like lead. She fell to one knee, gasping for breath.

_Can never return…_

_ Can never go back…_

_ Little lost child…_

_ Murderous lost child…_

"M-Murder…?" she coughed.

_Murderer…_

Foot steps…small ones. Akane looked up and gasped at what she saw. A child. A little boy. Covered in blood. He looked at her with eyes glazed over by death, holding in his hands a blood soaked infant. Akane's hands began to shake, "W-What is this?"

_Lives lost…_

_ Because of you…_

_ Murderer…_

"I-I never killed them!" she cried, "I didn't kill them! I don't even know them!"

_Don't you?_

_ Look again…_

Akane looked long and hard. And slowly, the vision changed. Instead of a boy and an infant, it was a boy and a girl. They looked at her with their blood covered bodies, and slowly reached out with bloody hands. As they did, small sparks grew at their feet until it engulfed their bodies. _Sister… _they called out. Akane felt tears in her eyes.

"No…no," she whimpered, "Y-You're dead! You're both dead! You're all dead!"

Akane felt sick. She coughed into her hand and felt something pass through her mouth. She looked into her hand. 'Blood…?' she blinked. How could she be bleeding from the inside? The poison in the air?

No. This wasn't poison, she realized. She felt it now. Something in her shoulder. She looked to see that the arrow that had struck her first was still there. It shook now as her vision failed her, but as she stared at it longer, she saw that the arrow had something attached to it. A red ribbon. "So…" she looked to the children, grinning as she saw their limbs were also being pulled by the red ribbons, "It's the work of a puppet master, huh?"

She reached over with her hand and grabbed the arrow, pulling the shaft from her shoulder, making a larger wound, but she had what she wanted. She wrapped the ribbon around her hand and struggled to her feet, "Let's see who you really are!" she gave it a hard yank and almost instantly regretted it.

There was a blood turning scream and the entire room began to spin as if going down a drain. It took all Akane had not to fall over as she braced her legs out. When everything came back to focus, she was standing in the middle of a moon-bathed garden and at her feet was a wad of red ribbon and two small wood carved dolls. Akane followed the trail of ribbon and found a small, shivering mass of black cloth.

She stomped over towards it and it tried to back away from her, but she held tight to the ribbon, which grew out of two of the long black sleeves. It was about the size of a year-old child, whatever it was, and it was hidden it its strange black cloak. In the darkness, she couldn't make out a face, if it had one, but she could smell that this thing was not a natural being. It was created by something.

It shivered and whimpered before Akane as she stared down at it. Akane reached down and grabbed the thing's head, "You're going to tell me who you're working for," she said, "And what you're doing here, understand?"

The little thing didn't stop shivering.

"Well? Speak up! You did plenty of speaking before, getting into my head," she growled at it, "Talk!"

The little thing shivered so hard it was almost convulsing, and then it let out a terrible screech that made Akane recoil and cover her ears. The moment she did, she was wrapped in the ribbons, constricting her and raising her up into the air. She couldn't move her hands or legs, and the ribbons crept like snakes up her body to hover for a moment in front of her face, and then latched around her neck. She gasped for breath as she heard the sinister cackle from the little black creature.

"V-Vile little…" she choked, but she couldn't move still. Black spots appeared on her vision and she began to lose the strength to struggle. This was how she was going to die…

_"Akane-sama!"_ came a shout, and the next thing she knew, she was falling. She collided so hard with the ground that what little wind was in her was knocked out of her lungs. She coughed and rolled onto her side, grasping her neck and spit a little blood out of her mouth.

She heard the terrified screams of the little black creature and looked, surprised at what she saw. Chou had the little black creature in her hands on the ground, holding it down on its belly with her hands on its back, struggling to keep it in place as it tried to reach her with its stumps of ribbons that Chou had obviously severed to free Akane.

"Q-Quickly, Akane-sama!" Chou cried as she held the creature down, "Destroy the brush!"

"Brush?" Akane got to her feet, "What brush?"

"This!" she indicated to the mass under hands, "Destroy it! Hurry! Before it gets away!"

Akane didn't hesitate. She didn't care what it was, but she was more than happy to kill it after all it had done. "Let it go, Chou, and get out of the way!" she shouted.

Chou jumped away as Akane ordered, and as the little demon jolted up to run away, Akane used her claws to slice it down. It let out a dying scream as it fell, the black robe it wore splitting and revealing its form. It was a mass of ugly silver skin and had no eyes or nose, only a mouth full of jagged teeth. Down its back, the gash from Akane's strike didn't even bleed. Inside it were more red ribbons that filled the corpse.

As the two women came closer to it, the body dissolved away to show only a hair-brush with a broken handle with the red-ribbon wrapped around its entire frame. "What is this?" Akane breathed.

"I thought so," Chou said as she picked up the broken pieces, "Its Umeko-sama's brush."

"Umeko…you mean the princess?" Akane looked at her, "What the hell? How did her _brush_ come to life?"

"Umeko-sama is a demoness of a strong family," Chou stated, "And she lavishes her hair more than anything else, so she prizes all her brushes. She'll even enchant some of them so that they always give even strokes to her hair." She looked at the broken silver brush in her hand, "We maids always feared touching these brushes. They seem to gain lives of their own. Some will burn a maid who dare to touch them, or even make them bleed with they try to clean the bristles," she swallowed as she looked at Akane, "This brush must've gained enough of Umeko-sama's demonic energy to take on a life of its own."

Akane realized that Chou had to be right. She watched her drop the pieces there amongst the black cloak and red ribbon and then gasped, grabbing her shoulder, "Rin! Where is Rin!?"

"She was taken from me," Chou said sadly, and she bowed her head in shame, "Forgive me, Akane-sama, I failed you."

"Rin was…" Akane grabbed both of Chou's shoulders, "Where!? Who has her, Chou!? _WHERE_?" she shook her, "How did you get out of the barrier? Why did you even _leave_ it!? I left you there to protect you two! Why, Chou!?" Akane froze and quickly pulled her hands away when she felt Chou tense under her grip. She didn't know why until she looked down at her fingers. They were soaked in blood. She looked up and, for the first time, noticed that Chou was bleeding. "What happened?"

"I…I tried to protect Rin-chan," Chou said, tears in her exposed eye, "I'm sorry, Akane-sama, I wasn't strong enough. They used a sword to attack me from behind. I told Rin-chan to run away, but she wouldn't, and they took her. I…I wasn't strong enough to help her…" she began to cry in her hands.

Akane felt guilty. She grabbed Chou gently on the arms and led her over to the steps to the garden and sat her down. This wing of the palace was quiet, surprisingly. Akane, for a moment, wondered how long she had been battling Umeko's possessed brush. It had to be close to dawn.

She sat Chou down and had her pull her kimono down so she could inspect her back. It was a small wound, but it was deep, so it had bled heavily.

"The bleeding stopped a while ago," Chou said, "It will heal now."

Akane nodded, "You stay here. You should be safe," she stood up, "I'm going to find Rin."

"I'm coming as well," Chou stood up, fixing her kimono.

"No," Akane glared at her, "You'll stay put, Chou. You're hurt."

"So are you," Chou pointed out, looking at Akane's wounded shoulder.

Akane reached over and put her hand on the wound. It wasn't so much of a pain as a hindrance. She grumbled, "That's not the point…"

"With all due respect, Akane-sama," Chou said, "I am coming."

This was completely unexpected. Akane looked Chou up and down, and then sighed, "Alright," she finally said, "Fine. But you have to do _one_ thing for me."

"What is it, Akane-sama?" she asked.

"Stop with the _sama_," she said, "Just call me Akane.

Chou gave her a sly smile, bowed and said, "I cannot do that, Akane-sama. I am, when it all comes down to it, you're loyal servant."

--

They had stopped the onslaught, but the battle was not won. They had not been destroyed. This battle had been started prematurely, and the Master wasn't pleased. Because of some stupid insider's folly, they had been force to attack before the appointed time. So enraged at that, in the heat of battle, when the Master found the insiders, all were killed on sight, since it wasn't clear which one of them actually committed the act.

"Report," Master demanded of one of the remaining men.

"M-most of the soldiers inside have been killed," said the reporting solider, "Even the Ribbon Master was destroyed."

The Master hissed through gritted fangs. "I went out of my way to get that thing and insure its usefulness…who slew it?"

"The red-haired demoness called Akane," answered the solider.

"That worthless harlot?" huffed the Master, "I cannot believe you let her live. Why she not dead by now?"

"She is a formidable opponent," answered the solider.

"Forget her for now," the Master snapped, "Tell me of Sesshomaru! Has he been killed yet?"

"No, Master," the solider swallowed, "He has not."

"And what excuse do you have for this!?" growled the Master.

"W-We cannot find his weakness," answered the solider, "He had none, Master! We cannot kill him! This mission has failed, we must retreat before our entire force is destroyed!"

The Master reached out and dug sharp, razor claws from the soldier's brow to his chin, making him cry out and hold his right eye as it began to spray blood. "Fool," the Master grunted, "He has a weakness…" a sinister grin crossed the Master's face, watched as two demons carrying a squirming mass approached, "And I will use it to annihilate him."

--

Sesshomaru smelled it. Rin had been here. Along with Akane's handmaid, Chou. The door to the small store-room was blown away, and he could sense the flickering remains of a barrier left there by Akane. Her power was unmistakable to his senses, but it had not been strong enough against whatever had been used to break it.

The scents of demons mixed with Rin and the handmaid's, and from it and the tracks in the dry and wet blood, he could tell that they had tried to run, and failed. Where the handmaid was now concerned him very little. He worried about Rin.

Kaito had brought it to his attention. The old advisor had told him that they would use his greatest weakness against him, and that if he didn't protect himself, then he would die. "It's you they are after, Sesshomaru-sama," he had said, "You and you alone."

Sesshomaru was forced to leave the old demon, but his wounds wouldn't kill him. He had masterfully avoided having the blade hit anything vital, and now only needed to play dead until this ordeal was over.

Sesshomaru hadn't been happy with the assassin who inflicted this wound. He had been using a charm stolen from a miko to mask his demonic aura, so he couldn't sense him. He killed him with a single strike, tearing him in two.

As he went on, following the scent of Rin, he was faced with a group of the invaders. They brandished their blades and weapons as they charged. Sesshomaru resigned himself to using a feeble blade from one of the fallen warriors to fight, channeling some of his demonic energy threw it to strike down an entire charging force (and collapsing an entire hallway of his palace) in a single swoop. Of course, the blade shattered afterwards, making him only more irritated.

He sniffed out Rin's scent to follow it, and it led him out of the palace completely. He took to the sky to fly out over the palace barrier and looked down. His palace was in ruins, but the barrier remained equally as strong as ever. 'How did they break through my barrier?' he thought with a scowl.

His palace lay in the middle of a valley and was surrounded by forest that gave way to mountainous terrain. Past the walls were only trees and small mountains until the cliffs came into view. He could see nothing, no sign of any army that may have attacked, in these trees.

His senses suddenly alerted him to danger. He dropped from the sky just in time to miss a barrage of arrows, but they were quickly followed by more. He had to take evasive maneuvers to avoid being hit, though some arrows still grazed his skin, making him growl. He felt his bones begin to pop and his demonic energy burst forth, breaking the seals that kept them in check. His face slowly began to become less human as red bled into his eyes and his iris turned ice-blue.

"Keep on him!" cried a voice, "Attack! _Attack_!"

Sesshomaru dropped into the forest with such force that the entire earth shook and turned. Trees were uprooted and fell, and the deafening sound made many of the remaining army turn tail to run. As the smoke cleared, Sesshomaru raised his maw at the sky and let out a tremendous howl that shook the ground even further.

The shouts of terror that followed made him feel pleasure as he looked down at the fleeing forces, his tongue lashing out to lick his fangs as he scanned the sight. They were still numerous, hundreds, but they would be easily dealt with if this was their reaction to his true form.

He snapped his fangs at them and lashed out at them with his paw. Some fell, some ran, some fought. Arrows and swords and claws are bit at his fur and skin. He growled and attacked. They were futile attempts to slay him.

They were _too_ easy.

_A trap!_

He suddenly felt it. He was being lead on. The further he went, the more he felt it weighing on him. Something was eating at his power, leaching it away. 'What is trickery is this?' he snarled as he looked down at his body. They were there, he realized. The arrows and swords that stuck in his body were not weapons at all. They were enchanted seals.

There was a laughter that made him look up. "I see you have finally realized what you were too blind to notice," said the voice, and a figure appeared, "You were so kind to show me your one weakness, Sesshomaru-sama," Sesshomaru glared and growled as he realized who was standing before him.

The old woman's crinkled face turned into an evil glare as she pulled Rin up by her hair, making the little girl whimper as she frantically tried to pry the woman's hands off her locks. "A pity that you won't live long enough to watch me feed her flesh to my army. The tender flesh of a young maiden is a wonderful treat after a victory like this. My men will enjoy her."

Sesshomaru hissed at her, knowing now who she was.

Umeko's chief-handmaid, Mamori.

The old woman looked up at Sesshomaru, "I cannot believe how vulnerable you left this child. It was so simple to take her from the hands of her maid. Come now, Sesshomaru, you should know better than to leave your little toys unprotected. Didn't your father die for the same reason?"

Sesshomaru hissed and bared his fangs at her, the vile toxin seeping from between his jowls to fall to the ground, smoking and sizzling as it dissolved through the soil and rock. All around him, the demon army had ceased their onslaught and instead surrounded him, as if realizing his power was weakening. He cursed himself for being tricked into such lowly and obvious traps.

Mamori laughed, "Oh, how I've awaited this day! You do not know, dear Sesshomaru-sama, how much I endured to see you in this state. It is not easy for one such as I took take orders from a weak princess like Umeko. For decades years I've plotted this day," she pulled on Rin's hair, making her cry out weakly in pain as she was raised up and Mamori's claws were pressed to her fragile skin around her windpipe, drawing tiny dots of blood, "And now, you can do _nothing_ to stop me."

The moment Rin's blood-scent touched the air, Sesshomaru's pupils shrank. He tossed back his head in a thunderous roar and his power exploded in such force that the demons that surrounded him were thrown back and the seals torn from his flesh. Trees were up rooted and fell over, and the beast himself jolted forward, meaning to crush Mamori under his great paw. So enraged was he, so blind, that he was almost grateful when Mamori dodged, seeing as Rin was still clutched in her arms.

Mamori gritted her teeth and tossed the girl aside. She fell as an unmoving mass to the ground, paralyzed by the venom of Mamori that coursed through her. She was helpless to get out of the way of the rampaging demons as Mamori took on her true form, a colossal white viper. She hissed and spat at Sesshomaru, who still rivaled her in size, as the two began to battle.

--

Akane felt her skin crawling, her entire body nearly convulsing as she shivered with both excitement and fear. The demonic energy in the air was so thick that she could nearly taste it on her tongue. Chou couldn't help but let out a small whimper, wanting to turn away from the forest they had traveled into.

Akane had already suffered for Sesshomaru's departure from the castle. They had only just reached the gate when she felt the first jolt of electric-like shock that would only increase in their intensity the further he got away from her. She had collapsed to one knee in pain, holding the hand that bared Sesshomaru's curse mark. From her finger tips to her elbow, Chou observed the blue-black colored veins of Sesshomaru's demonic power as it began to poison Akane's blood stream, causing her this severe pain. The two women had to move quickly before he moved to far away.

He hadn't made it easy to follow him, but thanks to this new occurrence, he would be easy to find. The closer they came to it, the better Akane's arm became. Slowly, the spreading rivers of demonic energy that ran over her forearm began to recede back to the mark, and Akane's own strength returned.

But it quickly became clear, the closer they got, that this would be a dangerous encounter.

Akane looked at Chou who was standing just behind her, as if hiding. She had shown bravery that Akane never expected from this timid demoness, but it was still no match to Sesshomaru's demonic aura.

"Chou," Akane said, "You should stay here."

Chou swallowed, and put on her best brave face, "I will follow you, milady, where ever you go."

Akane had to admit that she admired her bravery at this point, but it was being replaced by stupidity. "Where I'm going, you'll die," she said, shaking her head.

"Then I die," Chou countered, "I am coming, Akane-sama. Forgive me for my bluntness," she bowed slowly, and though very pale in her obvious fear, she had a very determined face.

The two women stared at each other, dead in the eye. Chou's left eye was still covered. Umeko's poison had permanently damaged that eye. Even if she could regain _some_ sight, it would never again be what it was. The left side of her face had four thin claw marks that traveled from her hair line to her lower jaw through the eye, leaving her face eternally scared.

Akane, after taking in her appearance, huffed, "Fine then. It's your neck," she winced when she realized what she said, "Sorry," she said, "Bad expression."

Chou chuckled, "It is okay, Akane-sama," she walked a few steps in front of Akane and looked back over her shoulder, "Perhaps Rin-chan is with Sesshomaru-sama. Let's hurry!"

Akane grinned, one of her fangs hanging over her bottom lip as she charged forward. The closer she got to the clashing energy of the warring demons, the more her own power boiled in her blood. It was getting harder and harder to keep her humanoid form.

The two ran together through the forest, closer and closer to the sounds of an intense battle. Every step made Akane's skin prickle. She smelled blood in the air, and fallen trees, overturned earth, even a few craters and fissures with corpses spread all over. The ground sizzled with puddles of toxins and spilled blood, and the sounds grew more extreme. Roars, snarls, hisses, snapping jaws and crashing bodies made the very ground shake at their feet.

When they came to the cliff-side, they found them. The massive form of Sesshomaru was unmistakable. He fought against the white-viper who was wrapped around his belly, trying to skin her deadly fangs into his scruff while he had his jaws clamped firmly in her neck near her head, keeping her as far from his flesh as possible. But his fangs only just punctured her armor-like scales. He had a gash along his right flank from his middle to his belly, and it bleed slowly onto the ground, trying to heal even against his rapid movements. His paw held the huge snake's tail on the ground, claws curling in and trying to scratch at her scales as he seeped poison from his fangs to wear away at the serpent-scales in his mouth.

The viper let out a fearful hiss and tried to wiggle away from him, and managed to slice one of her fangs along his snout, making him roar in frustration at the burning venom that seeped into the wound. The snake retreated and made a round-about turn, slicing through the air dead at something.

"_Rin-chan!!_" Chou screamed, seeing the girl as she pushed herself up on shaky hands. The little human looked up just in time to see the viper, open-mouthed, flying towards her, it's clear, acid venom slipping from its fangs and burning anything it touched.

Rin didn't even have time to scream. Chou moved to run towards her, knowing she would never make it in time, but willing to try, when something shot past her in a blaze of red. In only an instant, Akane was engulfed in red-aura that leapt into the air. It blared up in the sky like a bonfire and then came crashing down to reveal a deep red dog demon, Akane's true form. She had glossy red fur and her fur down her neck and back was on end. Her size was nearly equal to Sesshomaru's, and her crimson eyes and demonic snarl just as intimidating.

Akane wasted no time in meeting the viper head on. She wrapped her jowls around the snake's head and clamped down, throwing her over her head and into the wall of trees that buckled under the serpent's size. Before the snake had time to regain itself properly, Akane jumped on it, trapping it between her paws and biting again into his body. She shook her head wildly like a wolf with its newly fallen prey, and only released it when the head whipped around to bite her in the leg.

Akane yelped and retreated, the wound oozing blood and venom. She jumped back so that her good-paw was in front of Rin, lowering her head and growling protectively over the little girl, baring her pearl-white fangs.

Akane knew Sesshomaru approached, but she forced herself to keep her eyes on the viper and pay him no heed. Rin was weak, she could feel it in the little human's aura, so she needed protection more than he did.

The viper bent itself backwards and swayed, hissing and flicking its tongue, tasking the air to recognize Akane. Akane didn't recognize this demon's scent at all. She knew it was old though, and powerful.

Sesshomaru attacked first, lashing out with his paw as he leapt forward. The viper struck at him, but he jumped out of its path to come back down with a thunderous collision. The slippery snake was too quick to be caught by him and slithered away, but Akane leapt out at it, snapping her maw to only just miss its back as it dodged from her as well.

This lead to a deadly game of cat and mouse, or dog and snake, as it were. The two dog-demons attacked this she-serpent, cornering it between them, herding it to the cliff-side. They would attack it, biting and pouncing whenever possible, each trying to break through its scaly hide, but only managing to leave small bite-wounds and scratches, which amused the old snake.

Akane's temper and impatience got the better of her. She decided to meet the serpent head on and bolted at it as it teased her, swaying from side to side as if egging her on. Bursting forward, howling in her fury, she prepared to capture the snake between her paws and rip off its head in her jaws, ready to taste the blood of this snake for the last time.

But the only blood Akane tasted was her own. She felt herself blasted hard in the side and shoved completely out of the way, falling to the ground and tumbling side over side until she fell over the cliff. Her claws just barely caught the ridge in time as she scrambled and scratched with her back feet to get a holding on the steep slope. Struggling and grunting, she pulled herself back up and hissed.

Sesshomaru now had the snake's body in his mouth and the snake had his shoulder in her's. The two bodies twisted and struggled to get a hold on each other, the snake unable to wrap its coiling body over Sesshomaru's while Sesshomaru rolled to try to crush the snake's head under his weight.

Akane knew it had to have been Sesshomaru who nearly killed her and charged him instead. She leapt onto his back and he collapsed under her with a snarl, never letting go of his catch. She growled back at him and bit into his flank, and she felt his muscle tighten before she realized what he was doing. He catapulted her off by jumping onto his hind legs, and she fell onto her side at his feet.

Sesshomaru went right back to roughly tossing his head, ripping at the scales of the snake as he rammed his side against trees and large rocks, trying to loosen the snake's hold on his flesh. But Akane wasn't finished. She charged again, this time at his flank, and he saw her coming. He still didn't dare let go of the snake, and instead kicked her in the front with one of his hind legs, sending her flying back into the forest.

Trees fell and dirt mounded up as she slid to a stop. Akane rose slowly to her feet and shook her red fur of the soil before she jumped right back into the battle. Repeatedly, she tried to attack him, but he would easily deflect her or defeat her each time, never skipping a beat in his fight with the white viper.

Akane's last attack came in the form of a sever bite to one of Sesshomaru's hind legs. It tore into a nerve, and on top of that, she pulled it out from under him, causing him to fall to one side. He let out a roar filled with fury at Akane, and the snake took that chance to break free. She released the shoulder to instead go for Sesshomaru's throat, only to be stopped when he lashed out with his front paw. To his surprise and delight, this exposed a weak-point in the viper. The tender under-belly, which now sprayed out bright crimson blood, was not as heavily scaled as the rest of the viper's body.

Akane, seeing the now vulnerable serpent as it flew through the air, forgot all about the dog-lord at her feet and jumped after it. She caught it in her jaws and sank her lower-fangs into the wound Sesshomaru had opened. The snake let out a strange, high-pitched cry as its blood oozed into Akane's mouth. It tasted vile and the scent burned Akane's nose, but the knowledge that it was dying made everything worth it.

She threw the snake down on the ground and growled at it, ready to bite of its head, when she was once again attacked from the side as Sesshomaru barreled into her. She collapsed to on her flank and slid a few yards away. And by the time she was back on her feet, she could only watch as Sesshomaru ripped the snake's head off in his mouth and threw it away, leaving the body to convulse and slither under his claws.

When it finally stopped moving, it began to dissolve until it was just blackened flesh on white bone. Akane growled fiercely at Sesshomaru. She wanted to be the one to slay that snake. She wanted to have the knowledge that she killed it!

Before she could act on her growling threat, Sesshomaru turned on her and pounced. Akane was helpless to dodge as he fell on her with his jowls open and fangs exposed.

--

When Akane began to battle against the white-viper demon, Chou took her chances and grabbed Rin. Carrying her in her arms, she ran deeper into the forest, away from the fight. Rin slowly regained mobility as the venom was counteracted by her own immune system. Chou struggled to find a safe place to hide, and settled for a small, den-like cave that sloped down into the ground. She slid down it on the sides of her bare feet until she found flat ground, just low enough that she could still see out of the entrance, but deep and dark enough so no one on the outside could see them.

"How do you feel, Rin-chan?" she asked the girl after she sat her down, leaning against the cave-wall.

Rin simply nodded, "I-I think I will be okay. What about Sesshomaru-sama and Akane-neechan?"

Chou opened her mouth to say something, only to be got off by the sound of a fierce roar off in the distance. She would never mistake that sound again. It was Sesshomaru. She took a moment to answer before saying "I…I think they will be alright. They are both very strong. I don't think that demon will bother them."

Rin thought about this for a moment, then pulled her knees up to her chin and said, "I wasn't worried about the snake lady. I was worried about them. They don't like each other very much, do they, Chou-chan?"

Chou was surprised that Rin realized this. Then again, Akane wasn't very discreet about her strong dislike of Sesshomaru. She sighed at the memory of how Akane treated him when she first woke up, and how easy Sesshomaru found it to torture her with the mark on her wrist. She knelt down in front of Rin and said, "No, I suppose not."

"I hope they are okay," Rin sighed, "I love Sesshomaru-sama, and Akane-neechan is Rin's best friend…" she reached down with a finger and began to draw in the dirt, "I will be sad if anything happens to them."

Chou frowned and said, "They will be alright, I feel it," she placed a reassuring hand on Rin's head, "Why don't you rest for a while, Rin-chan? I'm sure Sesshomaru-sama and Akane-sama will come for us soon."

Rin nodded, more exhausted than Chou had ever seen her, and crawled over to Chou, resting her head in the demoness' lap, lying on her side. Chou ran her hand up and down Rin's shoulder, but neither ever rested as they listened to the howls and crashes in the distance of the battle they had fled from.

--

**A/N**: An longer chapter than I intended it to be, but I couldn't figure out a way to split this into two parts without making it really really short....XP

Anywho, you'll find out more about the white-viper Mamori and her plot later. Enjoy the chapter and please review!

-Alma Theresa


	8. Akane's Fairy Tale

**7: Akane's Fairy Tale**

Sesshomaru was a bit rougher than he should've been with Akane. She was already wounded, suffering from the viper-venom, and had lost a lot of blood. Still, he had to teach her. He would not allow her attacks on him to go unpunished. He used both the mark and his strength advantages over her and eventually brought her down.

He had gone out of his way to insure her survival against that damned viper. When Akane first attacked it, she was too blind to see that the snake was purposely luring her to the edge of the cliff, going to throw her over it, and she would not have survived such a fall. And she thanked to him was to attack him!

She was spirited, he'd give her that much. Even when she was too weak to fight him, she refused to submit to him. A trembling, weak mass of red fur under his weight, she still struggled to snarl and growl at him, though the sounds were becoming quite pitiful. She was panting heavily as her body struggled to heal itself and to get rid of the poison in her blood, and it could do none of that with the mark tainting her as he willed it to cause her pain.

He wasn't about to let her die, but he would see her submit. He held her tight by the scruff until he tasted her blood. She yelped in her pain and spun around, snapping her jaws at him and catching him under his chin, making him bleed. He growled heavily at her for this and it only earned him another swift kick from her lower-leg, something she had done repeatedly before, though it did little but make his bite tighten on her skin.

Every time she struggled, Sesshomaru became more aggressive towards her. They were both already heavily wounded from each other, and finally, whether it was from blood-loss or the poison, Akane stumbled and collapsed to the ground. Her true form melted away until she was once again her humanoid self, though the ground was stained with blood in roughly the shape of her dog-form.

Breathing heavily as he watched her lay still on the ground, he let out a low rumble. His head pounded with each beat of his heart with his demonic power still coursing in his veins, still very much awakened from the battles. He could hear, over his own pulse, the faint thumbing of Akane's heart. He watched her, her aura flickering like a dying flame. She was greatly suffering from Mamori's potent venom. He could also feel its effects as his vision became clouded.

He turned his attention to the half dissolved viper corpse and moved towards it. There were only two ways to make a demon anti-venom quick enough to save them before it took its course through their bodies, it was either to grind up the bones or to devour the raw flesh. Sesshomaru didn't know which was more repulsive, but with a feral snarl, he ripped into the flesh and tore away a mouth full, the scene not unlike a wolf with fresh kill. It tasted vile and reminded him of dirt or tree bark, but he forced it down.

Sesshomaru let out a heavy groan as he too changed back. The kimono he wore quickly became blood-soaked form his wounds, but it bothered him very little. Reaching deep into the corpse, he ripped out a handful of the viper's meat and walked over to where Akane lay. Her skin was pale from blood loss, and her chest rose and fell rapidly, her face beaded and sparkling with sweat. There was only faint light from the sun as in the Eastern sky the line of orange and pink began to grow.

Sesshomaru's brow furrowed as Akane let out a sound of distress in her unnatural slumber. She was waking, he had to do this now. Using his foot to nudge her onto her back from her side before kneeling down beside her. He pried open her mouth and then shoved the meat down her throat, quickly shoving her mouth close again as he eyes shot open at the taste. She struggled against him, but he didn't let her move until he was sure she had swallowed the meat, and he released her.

She coughed and turned herself over, grasping her throat. For a moment, she did nothing more than breathe, then turned around with lightening speed to smack him across the face. "Bastard! What the hell did you do to me!?"

Sesshomaru stared hard at her, but decided she had enough punishment from him for one day and simply rose to his feet. He turned and began to walk to the corpse again.

"Hey!" Akane snapped, "I was talking to you!" she got to her feet and he watched her sway before falling back to the ground with a small grunt.

"You took in more venom than you should have," he informed her, "I would suggest you remain still until your body has cleansed your blood stream."

Akane glared at him, "You're one to talk! What about you?"

Sesshomaru huffed, "Fool. A lowly viper demon's venom cannot affect this Sesshomaru as it does you."

Akane didn't seem to heed him at all as she rose again to her feet. Her kimono was tarnished and ruined, and her hair was dirty and crusted with blood. He didn't understand how she let herself go blindly into battles like she did. Like a human would.

"Where's Rin?" Akane barked at him.

"With your handmaid, I am sure," Sesshomaru said, "They probably fled when we battled. Wise, for their part," he continued to examine the viper's body and thought back to what Mamori had said.

'Plotted against me for decades, right under my nose,' he thought to himself, 'How did this go unnoticed?'

"Who the hell was she, anyway?" Akane asked, crossing her arms as she too looked at the corpse, nose wrinkling at the rotting smell, "An old girlfriend of yours?"

Sesshomaru ignored her final statement and said, "The white-viper Mamori. She was disguised as the chief-handmaid of Umeko. That is how she infiltrated my home."

There was a brief silence as Akane joined him in looking over the corpse. She sniffed the air around it, gagging at the stench, and he watched her walk the length of it, pausing at the skull and looking thoughtful.

"Actually," Akane said, "Come to think of it, a lot of her men were some of your guards and soldiers," she informed him.

Sesshomaru scowled at her, "What did you say?"

"When I brought down a few of the ones back in the palace," she said, "I recognized them as the guards you stationed outside my cell. Also, now that I think of it," she put her fingers to her chin, "I think I overheard some of them talking just before I escaped about a coup."

He growled, "And you didn't tell me of this?"

Akane glared at him, "Gee, it kinda slipped my mind after you ran me threw and then cursed me," she held up her wrist that bore his mark.

Sesshomaru growled at her. Again, she was challenging him. He turned on his heals and began to storm away.

"Where do you think you're going!?" she snapped.

He didn't answer her, but she came up right in front of him, making him pause, "You do remember that this not only allows you to have your fun with my nerves," she held up the mark, "But it also means that if you get to far away, I suffer, right?"

"I remember everything about the curse I put on you," he growled at her, "So I suggest that if you do not wish to feel the true extent as to what it can do, then you will learn how to respect me properly."

Akane glared at him right in the eye. Again, like at their first meeting, it was a battle of wills. Akane clicked her tongue and looked away first, turning around and starting into the woods, "Forget this. I'm going to find Rin and Chou."

Sesshomaru allowed her to go a few steps before him, then moved to follow. He was growing rather irritated with her, and was regretting his decision to keep her around.

--

Akane winced with each step. She held a hand around her stomach, feeling the bruised ribs and the pounding of her heart. She couldn't remember the last time she hurt this much. Sesshomaru was two steps in front of her, walking with no limp, though he was covered in blood. This was also the first time she took notice of his missing arm.

She never really paid much attention to it before, or to him in general really. But with nothing better to do, she took in his appearance from behind. The sleeve for his left arm was ripped and tattered, missing up to where his elbow should've been and singed from what looked like fire a little further than that. The scratches she had seen on him were nearly gone, and the only thing that would've shown he was ever in a battle was his battle worn clothes.

"What happened to your arm, anyway?" she asked finally, mustering the courage to break the silence between them that had lingered since they left the final battle field.

He said nothing to her, choosing instead to ignore her.

"Fine," she huffed at him, turning her face away, "Stupid me for trying to strike up conversation…" more silence until Akane couldn't stand it anymore and she asked, "Why do you even have Rin around?"

Sesshomaru stopped and looked back at her, his face emotionless as he stared at her. He didn't seem angry or even confused, he was only watching her, as if he was awaiting her to say something more.

"Its clear you're not a people person," she said, "Humans are the probably your least favorite thing. So why Rin?"

Sesshomaru turned his face away from her and seem to ponder her question for a while, then turned his back to her and began to walk on, without a word. Either he didn't want to answer her or he was just being a jerk about it. Akane went with the later and pouted, following him anyway since she didn't want to deal with the pain of his mark again, not on top of all the other abuse her body was taking.

Dawn had come a while before. The sun was just eating away the night sky, half of it still dark with faint stars, the moon still glimmered dimly, and the other half of the sky was soft pinks and pale oranges as the sun crept over the mountains and hills. It was around this time, after Akane paused to marvel the morning sky and the first rays of sunshine awaking what remained of this battle-zone forest, that they came upon a small cave that sank into the ground.

Akane could smell Chou more than anything else, and as Sesshomaru approached it, she jerked when something leapt out from it. It jumped at Sesshomaru and would've attack him, but he easily swatted it to the side, making it fall and slide a few feet away.

"What the hell was that!?" Akane shouted as she came up beside him, looking at the fallen creature. It was still alive, and it moved. It rose to its paws and shook itself slowly, whimpering. Akane blinked a few time as the glossy black creature, about the size of a horse, stared at her. The left eye had four scratches going through it, the iris glazed over with white. Its face was a cross between a cat and a wolf, with a sleek body short fur, and long whiskers and claws. When it saw Akane, it let out a small, purr like hiss and bowed low on its front legs.

The scent that was caught on the wind from this creature, Akane realized what it was, or rather who. "Chou?!"

The moment she realized, the demon was wrapped in a dark purple light and when it faded, Chou stood there, "I am so glad you are safe, Akane-sama," she turned to Sesshomaru and fell to her knees, "Please forgive me, Sesshomaru-sama! Bandits tried to attack in the night! I was merely defending Rin!"

Sesshomaru paid Chou's plea no heed and simply stepped closer to the cave. Akane heard the grunts and scrambling of little feet just before Rin shot out of the dark cave and ran to Sesshomaru, "Sesshomaru-sama!" she cried.

Akane watched him slowly kneel and allow her to embrace him. He placed a hand on her hair and allowed her to sob into his chest for a few brief moments, looking over her with his golden eyes failed to mask his concern. Akane knew she was no worse for wear, and when Rin saw her out of the corner of her eye, she smiled, trying to put most of her bitterness about Sesshomaru behind her for the child's sake.

"Akane-neechan!" she ran to her, "You're okay too!" she opened her arms and Akane bent down to let her hug her neck, picking her up slowly, feeling the extend of her wounds now with the little girl's weight on her back. For a human, her grip was pretty tight, and she held fast to her as she buried her face in Akane's shoulder and red hair.

Akane wrapped her arms tightly around Rin and smiled, "I'm glad you're okay too, Rin-chan. Chou took good care of you, didn't she?"

"Yes," Rin answered, then slightly pulled back to look Akane in the face, "What about the snake lady?" she looked at Sesshomaru, "Did she hurt you?" she asked, looking back to Akane and then Sesshomaru again.

Before either could answer, a cry came from the woods. "_Sesshomaru-sama!"_ Sesshomaru looked at the direction of the shrill cry, and watched as a green imp demon came running from the brush, followed by a two-headed green dragon. "Sesshomaru-sama! I am so glad I found you!" he cried as he came forward.

Akane remembered this little demon, Sesshomaru's vassal Jaken, who had also been charged with teaching Rin, if she remembered right. Rin began to squirm so Akane set her down, and realized with a tinge of guilt she was glad the girl didn't want to be held any longer as she ran to Jaken and embraced him.

"Jaken-sensei! You are okay too! I am so glad!" she cried.

The demon squawked in alarm and flung his arms around, "Of course I'm okay, you foolish child! Now release me at once!" Rin completely ignored the little demon and continued to hug him, nearly snuggling him as she did.

"Rin," Sesshomaru's tone was rather even as he spoke to her, "Release him."

Rin paused to give Sesshomaru a pouting face, but when his expression never changed, she let Jaken go with a sad "Aw".

The imp scrambled away from her to retrieve his fallen demon-staff that he always had on his person, and glared at Rin until Akane gave him a growl. He swallowed in fear as Akane went to Rin, who attached herself to her hand and stayed near her.

"Sesshomaru-sama," Jaken cleared his throat, "I-I am pleased to announce that all of the rebels in your home have been eliminated, but any hopes of taken hostages were dashed when the survivors took their lives before their captors, your men, could question them."

Sesshomaru didn't look at all surprised, though it ate at Akane. "What of my staff?" Sesshomaru asked Jaken.

"Most, regrettably, fell to the attacking army," Jaken answered with a somber tone, "What is left of them either fled or remained to fight. A good portion of your army also fell."

"What of Kaito?" Sesshomaru asked.

"He is being treated," Jaken said, "And is reacting well to the doctors' healings," Jaken hung his head, "But…the palace has been almost completely destroyed in this battle. It will take almost a year to rebuild, Sesshomaru-sama."

Sesshomaru seemed as if he expected as much. Akane looked at him for a moment, wondering what he would do next. His palace was destroyed, most of his men were gone, his servants were either dead or ran away, and he was clearly targeted by someone.

"Jaken," Sesshomaru addressed the imp, who quickly jumped to attention, "You will go back."

"Milord!?" Jaken seemed surprised.

"Go ahead of us, ready my armor and sword," he said, "We head to my brother's territory."

Jaken was staring in open mouth horror at his lord, but after a stern glare from the dog lord, scrambled to regain himself and bowed repeatedly, "Y-Y-Yes Sesshomaru-sama! I shall see to it right away!" he hurried away as the two-headed dragon came forward towards Akane.

Akane bristled at the demon, but it paid her no heed as its heads' bowed to nuzzle against Rin with a comforting hiss followed by a rumble. Rin patted it and giggled, "I am happy to see you again too, Ah-Un!" she chimed.

Akane, seeing that Rin knew the dragon-like creature, looked instead to Sesshomaru, who was starting off after Jaken. She followed him as Chou came up to Rin to talk to her about the strange creature, and caught up to him as he passed through a thin row of trees to look out over a cliff.

She gasped slightly, covering her mouth, at what she saw. Down below them was the palace, or the remains of it. Black smoke rose from it, and she could see the tiny dots of people that moved about in the gaps that were once parts of the building. The stone walls that encased it were broken in places and she could see that beams and parts were still tumbling over inside the ruins. It was a disturbing sight, and made all the more painful by the memories it stirred in her heart.

Akane clutched at her chest, her fingers wrapping around the cloth of her kimono, as she closed her eyes against the sight and the memories of so long ago…

"It is no longer safe here," Sesshomaru said.

"Clearly…" Akane agreed, swallowing the feelings that were building, threatening to cause her tears.

He was quiet as he turned to her, looking at her for a long while. Akane wondered how she must have appeared to him at that moment, but pushed the thoughts from her head. She knew she couldn't look very pretty. She felt the dirt and grime on her skin, the blood and mud that soaked her clothes and legs, and her hair was as unruly as ever as it was caught in the breeze and got in the way of her sight. She tucked some behind her ear as she looked down at her bare feet.

"What are you going to do now?" she asked him.

Sesshomaru looked over her shoulder at Rin and Chou as they patted Ah-Un lovingly, feeding him wads of grass and weed-flowers. He turned away, "I will return Rin."

"Return her?" Akane scowled, "What is she, a gift? How can you _return_ her?"

Sesshomaru glared at Akane, and she was quiet, though she glared right back at him until he said, "There is a place where she will be safe," he said, "I will take her there."

Akane didn't say anything as he walked past her back towards Rin. It wasn't something she could fight, she decided. Rin was in danger, that was clear after this past night events. She wouldn't survive if she stayed with Sesshomaru.

Akane turned slowly to face them as Rin hurried over to Sesshomaru, smiling up at him with her blind love of him. Her gaze moved slowly from the girl to her wrist as she held it out to inspect it. Sesshomaru's mark seemed brighter now against her pale skin. The blood loss she endured was great, it weakened her, but she could still feel the pulse of Sesshomaru's demonic power around that mark.

Sesshomaru told her that she was Rin's playmate. She hadn't been with the girl very long, and yet she didn't want to leave the child's side. She reminded her so much of the human friends that had long ago past as she lived on. She looked at Rin with sad eyes. She would have to let the girl go, she realized, or die from the separation from Sesshomaru.

--

It would take three days to reach this safe place for Rin. After they had been met by Jaken, who brought along two male servants, one carrying Sesshomaru's armor and a clean kimono, and the other his sword, Sesshomaru had sent Jaken back to fetch supplies they would need, including clothing changes for Rin, Chou, and Akane.

Akane wasn't pleased to again be wearing an expensive kimono, but at the very least this one was simpler. It was a single color, an indigo blue, and more suited for travel. The obi was a pale sky blue and white, and she wore simple sandals and used a shred from her old kimono to tie up her hair, washing her skin and face in a small river and doing the same for Rin.

When all three women were properly dressed, Sesshomaru turned to Chou, "You will go with Jaken," he told the handmaid. She bowed to Sesshomaru without even trying to object, and then walked over to join the two male servants and Jaken.

Sesshomaru now wore his armor, a chest plate with a half-ring of spikes over his left shoulder, and had his large white pelt over his right shoulder. If Akane didn't have the memories of it, she wouldn't have been able to tell he had battled only hours ago. He addressed Jaken, giving him orders, while Rin tugged on Akane's sleeve until her attention was drawn to her.

"Akane-neechan, you'll love it in miko Kaede's village!" she said, "And you'll get to meet Kagome-neechan too! And Shippo-kun!"

All these names meant nothing to Akane, but she smiled and nodded at Rin anyway. She didn't know if the girl realized that when they reached wherever they were going, the two would part. If she did, she was either looking on the bright side of things, or not caring at all. She didn't believe Rin to be uncaring, and saw her as more of the "half-full" kind of person.

Jaken bowed along with the two male servants as they bid farewell to Sesshomaru, and Chou stepped over to Akane and Rin and bowed to her, "Until we meet again, Akane-sama. Be well in your travels," she gave Akane a smile, and Akane smiled back.

"You too, Chou," Akane said.

"Chou-chan," Rin said, "Will you come visit Rin someday?" she asked with a sad expression in her eyes.

Chou looked at her with a somber look and forced out, "If I can, Rin-chan."

Rin seemed satisfied with this answer and Chou bowed again before departing as Jaken snapped at her to hurry up. After they had disappeared into the wood, Sesshomaru turned to them. "Jaken will return after he had given my orders to Kaito," he said, "Then we will start off."

"Jaken-sensei is coming along too?" Rin smiled, and she jumped at Akane's side, still holding tight to her hand, "It will be just like before, won't it, Sesshomaru-sama? Only Akane-neechan will be with us!" she looked at Akane, "It will be fun, Akane-neechan! Rin will show you! It will be really, really fun!"

Akane made her best attempt at a smile at the girl's optimistic attitude. "It's…going to be interesting, Rin, I'm sure of that."

Rin giggled and tugged at Akane's arm until she followed her over to where Ah-Un was, and introduced them.

Akane was very aware of Sesshomaru watching her, and often glanced over to look at him too. She was to happy with this arrangement, but if it was truly in Rin's best interest, she would have to deal with it. She had little choice in the matter, as it seemed.

--

"8…7…6…5…4…3…2…1!" Akane counted down before uncovering her eyes, "Here I come!" she called out and then began to sniff at the air for Rin's scent. Sesshomaru had gone ahead to scout out the path, or so she figured, and since he could be gone awhile, Rin suggested a game.

Jaken was completely against the idea and remained where Sesshomaru had left them with Ah-Un, and the two began to play "Hide-and-Seek". Rin ordered her not to use demon speed against her, and Akane only laughed in agreement. She said nothing about her nose though.

Akane followed the scent, smelling the trees that Rin touched, the air that she had cut through, and the bushes she dashed through. She had stopped to smell a rock that Rin must've stood atop when she heard something from behind. She grinned, bracing herself, as she was pounced on from behind.

"Arg!" she grunted as she fell forward on the ground with a laugh, "You got me!"

Rin laughed as she sat on Akane's back, "I win!" she cheered, throwing her hands up in the air in triumph, "I win! I win!"

Akane laughed and reached around to grab Rin's legs, holding the girl as she pulled her feet under herself. Rin rushed to latch onto Akane's neck, laughing as Akane began to run around at a rather fast pace for the girl, but mild for herself. Rin laughed and spread her arms out as if she was flying, enjoying the feel of it. Akane played along and jumped high up in the air to glide about, giving Rin more things to laugh and cheer for.

It was a beautiful day, only the day after they departed from Sesshomaru's palace, and close to mid-noon when Rin's grumbling tummy alerted Akane to her needs. She returned to the camp, walking with Rin still on her back, to find Jaken sitting under a tree in the small grove with Ah-Un resting a little away from him.

"What's for lunch, _toad_?" Akane asked the demon, grinning at her insult.

"If you're hungry, _wench_," grumbled Jaken, "Feed yourself. I do not answer to you."

Akane glared at him, and would've struck out if Rin hadn't chimed out, "I can make lunch, Akane-neechan!" and jumped from her back to rush into the wood.

"Wait, Rin!" Akane called, following the girl, "Wait for me! Don't run off like that!" she hurried to catch up with her. She followed Rin around as she collected various roots, edible mushrooms, and a few other wild-foods. When they came to a slow moving river teaming with fish, Rin was nearly frothing at the mouth.

"Oooh, fish!" she chimed, and put down her collection to go over, rolling up her kimono and tying it at her knees. Akane, intrigued, took a seat on a small boulder and watched Rin wade into the water. Up to her ankles, she shivered, "It's _cold_!" she squealed.

Akane laughed, "It is autumn. The water's going to be cooling down now."

Rin went out a little farther, to her knees, and began to hover over the water until she struck, trying to catch a fish in her hands. She caught the first three, but after that, her hands were to numb to catch anymore. Becoming very distraught at that, she started out of the water with her meager catch, and feeling bad, Akane tried her hand and caught more fish for them to share.

They gathered them up and wrapped them in a small white cloth that Akane carried as padding for her obi, and carried them back to camp. They made roasted and seasoned fish, and enjoyed enough food to fill them and then some. Even Jaken loved the food, though he didn't say it aloud. Ah-Un got some of the roasted mushrooms and roots that Rin found, and didn't turn away the fish when it was cooked either.

When they had finished their meal, Rin put out the fire and Akane used some salt from Ah-Un's pack to rub the fish-meat to make them last a little longer so they would have something for dinner and maybe breakfast in the morning. Akane was laying on her back with Rin lying parallel to her as they looked up at the sky and pointed out clouds that looked like various shapes and animals.

Akane didn't notice until the wind shifted that Sesshomaru was nearby. She pulled herself up on her elbows and glared in the direction of the scent as the wind hissed through the leaves. Sesshomaru stepped into the open slowly and looked at the pair. Rin jumped up with a big smile and nearly danced over to him, "Welcome back, Sesshomaru-sama!"

Sesshomaru paid the girl no heed, except for a glance down at her, which made her beam as she went back to Akane and grabbed her arm, "Can we play more games now, Akane-neechan?" she asked.

Akane raised an eyebrow, "We've played all day. Aren't you tired yet?"

"No," smiled Rin, "Come on! Let's play a game!"

Akane wasn't sure what game the girl had in mind, but when she looked over and saw Sesshomaru watching her, his eyes cold as if in a threat that she better do what Rin wanted, she groaned as she rose up, letting Rin drag her away.

They played tag and then Akane taught Rin more rhymes and a few clapping games she knew. When Akane was out of ideas of what to tell Rin as they sat in a small open meadow only a little while from the grove where they had set up came, Rin asked a question.

"Will you tell me a story, Akane-neechan?" she said as she sat, picking flowers to braid into Akane's hair.

Akane lay on her side in the tall grass, resting her head on her hand as she held a flower between her fingers, twirling it this way and that. "What story do you want to hear?" she asked.

"A story that you know," Rin said with a giggle.

"Well that's pretty obscure," chuckled Akane, "I know lots of stories."

"Just tell me one," Rin said, "Any story. Please, Akane-neechan?"

Akane tried to think. She wasn't very good at telling stories, she had never been very inventive when it came to making them up either. The human village she spent most of her childhood in had a special day when the elders of the village would take turns telling stories, and she remembered most of them, but not many would appeal to little Rin.

She finally remembered one that she thought she could tell very well, though it wasn't one a human told her. "Okay Rin," Akane pulled herself up, taking her hair from Rin's hand and pulling her over to sit in front of her, so that they both sat in the meadow as Rin became very attentive to Akane, "I have a story for you. It's about a princess."

Rin seemed to like that idea, and Akane had to remember how it started.

"There once was a girl called Kazue, a princess from a far away land that was very well off. She strayed from her home and got lost in a terrible and cursed wood, and couldn't find any way out of it. So frightened was she that she ran, and twigs and branches were caught in her hair, her nice royal kimono robes were ruined, and she fell into a very dirty lake. She sobbed and cried in her despair, for she feared she would never escape.

"As she cried, her tears attracted many evil demons and spirits who began to attack her. She tried to fight, to defend herself, but she wasn't very good and had to run again. She tripped many times and was cut and bled, but she kept getting up to run away."

It was clear, so far, that Rin was finding this story very unappealing, so Akane quickly had to rethink some parts and decided to skip ahead. For the next part, she started to use her hands and arms to express some of the things she spoke.

"Finally, just as it seemed Kazue was going to be killed, a flaming arrow cut through the air and exploded in flame that ate away all the evil demons and saved Kazue. Kazue was very grateful, and looked for the arrow's archer, only to find that the wood was once again empty. She called out for her rescuer, and saw that a cloaked figure stood in the distance. She rose up to her feet and struggled to follow him, but he stayed just out of her reach. She followed him until she was outside of the forest, and found her parents looking frantically for her. Kazue went to them, sobbing in her fear and relief, but she kept wondering about the figure. She said nothing about it to her parents as she was led home."

"Three days passed, and Kazue couldn't forget the figure. She resolved to go back to the cursed wood and look for him to thank him for saving her life. But before she could escape again, her mother found her with great news. She told Kazue that her father had arranged for her to marry a wealthy lord that Kazue new to be crude, ugly, and mean. She was very upset, and her mother wouldn't allow her to leave until the meeting between her and her betrothed was carried out. Kazue waited until after she met her big, ugly, fat husband to be," Akane deepened her voice and stretched out her arms to make herself seem like fat man, making Rin laugh, "And then, at night, she climbed over the wall and ran into the cursed woods."

"This time, she was careful and prepared as she went through the woods with a lantern, calling out of her rescuer. When he showed himself, he asked in a haunting, deep voice why she had come back here. She told him that she wanted to thank him for rescuing her, and offered him a basket she had brought filled with food and nice things like blankets and lush pillows. He didn't come to take them from her, but she left them for him and headed back home. Every three days after that, Kazue went back to the cursed wood to bring more food to the stranger. The more she brought him, the closer he would dare to come to her. Kazue learned that he was called "Yoshiro", and she came back often to see him."

"But, as time does, it moved all to fast. Soon, Kazue would be married off to the fat lord, and she would have to leave the new friend she had made in Yoshiro. She was very sad the last time she saw her cloaked rescuer, and he asked, from the tree branch were he sat eating an apple she had brought him, what troubled her. Kazue told him that she didn't like this new husband of her's at all, and didn't want to marry him. She hated him, if anything, him and his gluttony and ugly, wart covered face," Akane poked Rin's face and said, "He had a wart here, here, here, and here," poking Rin gently with her claws, making the girl giggle.

"Yoshiro asked why she was marrying him if she didn't love him, and she told him that her father and mother wished her to so that they would have tight bonds with his territory. Kazue didn't know why she bothered explaining it and told Yoshiro he was lucky. He lived in this forest and didn't have to deal with the real world. She left him with a sad, final goodbye, for the next day she would be gone from this place."

"Kazue woke up reluctantly that morning and went to find her mother, only find that that her husband to be was there, and her mother and father were bound by evil spells and unable to move. She screamed as she realized this lord was really an evil spirit come to steal her soul, and tried to fight him. She used her father's sword, but only managed to put a scratch on the evil-lord. He grabbed her harshly and prepared to kill her."

Rin gasped and covered her mouth, and Akane grinned, "But, as fate would have it, the cloaked figure came in at that moment and struck the arms off the lord!" Rin cheered as Akane jumped to her feet and began to reenact the part of the figure while Rin was Kazue, and she pretended to swing a sword to fight the evil-fat-lord, "He fought against the lord with such grace it was hard to believe he was human! They battled fiercely, but Yoshiro was wounded in the arm, and could barely lift his sword!" she clutched her arm and tried not to laugh when Rin cried out, "Oh no, Yoshiro!"

"But," Akane came over and pulled Rin forward, "Before the evil-lord could strike him down, Kazue grabbed Yoshiro's sword right from his hand, and using all her strength, she struck the final blow, ending the life of the evil-lord who plagued her family. The battle was won!"

Rin and Akane cheered and fell back into the grass laughing at their little play. "What happened next?" Rin asked.

"Well," Akane pushed herself up on her elbows, "Kazue's father, the Lord, told Yoshiro that he was in his dept, and would do anything to repay him. Yoshiro, for the first time, revealed his face to Kazue, and she saw that he was very handsome and noble looking. Yoshiro told Kazue's father that he would like to take Kazue for his wife. Kazue's father at first refused him, though."

"Why?" Rin asked, honestly confused.

Akane smiled at her innocence, "Well, Yoshiro wasn't of noble birth, despite his good intentions. He did live in a cursed forest, after all. And Kazue was her parent's pride and joy, they wanted to see her well looked after and for her to have many children."

"So what did they do?" Rin asked.

"Nothing," Akane saw that Rin looked disappointed and smiled, "Because Kazue's father was actually wrong. Yoshiro was really a prince from a land farther North, he had run away because he didn't want to take his father's place, fearing he would only mess it up. But now, with Kazue with him, he would go back and rule with her help, as long as she stayed with him. Kazue told Yoshiro she would, and with her parents full blessing, they were married and went back to Yoshiro's real home, where they had many children, and lived happily ever after."

Rin smiled at Akane, "I like your stories, Akane-neechan."

Akane huffed, "Don't get to use to it," she said, "I'm not very good at story telling. I knew that one front to back, so you got it easy this time."

"How did you know that one so well?" Rin tilted her head a bit, and Akane was quick to think that his girl was smarter than she looked. She was getting Akane to reveal more and more about her past, and it was beginning to annoy her.

Still, Akane sighed, "It was a story my mother use to tell me."

"You're human mother?"

"No, my real mother," she said, bowing her head sadly, "It's one of the few things I do remember about her…"

Rin was quiet for a while. Akane noticed the silence, and quickly tried to liven the mood, "How about we try out a new game, Rin?" she said, smiling, "How would you like that?"

Rin beamed, "Yes! Very much, Akane-neechan!"

Akane got to her feet and helped Rin up as well, "Right, well it's got some running in it, so get ready, because I'm the hound, and you're the fox!" Rin seemed to recognize this game, because she let out a squeal and ran away as fast as she could from Akane, who quickly went to chase her at only a fraction of her speed.

Downwind, in the forest around which the meadow lay, Sesshomaru had been watching and listening to the Akane's strange story. He hadn't heard it before, and wondered if she just made it up to please Rin's appetite for fairy tales. He huffed and turned away, "Ridiculous…"

--

Akane wrung out her hair again and muttered a curse to it. She hated having so much, but she couldn't bring herself to cut it either. She sighed as she went back to drying her skin so she could replace her clothes. She hated wearing a kimono while traveling. It was just too much of a hassle to take on and off to wash. She fumbled with the over-robe and then the obi until she was satisfied and then began to gather up her things.

Rin had fallen asleep not long after they had set off before sundown. Sesshomaru wanted to find a different camp, since it seemed that this one didn't suit his tastes. Akane huffed, wondering if the outdoors were really his style at all. _'He's such a spoiled bra—_'

Akane dropped her things when she felt a hand wrap around her mouth and silence her scream. He was pulled back behind a tree into the shadows and pressed against a hard chest. She struggled until claws bit into her cheek and she recognized a low, warning growl. Sesshomaru didn't even look at her as she glared up at him, he was watching the water.

Akane's gaze fell that way too as they watched a strange creature slowly emerge from the other side of the creak where Akane had washed herself. It came over and sniffed Akane's fallen things, and then let out a low growl. It was a demon, frothing at the mouth with glowing white eyes. It resembled a scale-covered bat that walked on all fours, it front legs bony wings with no membrane between the long finger-like appendages for flight.

Two more of its kind joined it to sniff Akane's things, and Sesshomaru growled when Akane tried to break free to save her bathing supplies. Chou had packed soap and wash-clothes for her, and she had foolishly brought them all with her. If she lost it, Rin and she would have nothing to bathe with.

The demons started off with her things, and Sesshomaru whispered harshly, "Move from this spot, and I will kill you," before he let her go and silently faded into the trees' shadows. She watched the three demons as they started again across the water. They all froze to smell a fresh breeze, and one let out a startled barking noise. The other two turned to look as the third froze dead still, before it fell in a spray of blood. The other two howled with screeching sounds at the fall of their fellow, and one lashed out. Sesshomaru had appeared, and grabbed the offender by its large neck and poisoned it, making it wither before dying. The last one was decapitated with a flick of Sesshomaru's wrist, and then all three lay dead in the creak, blood tainting the water.

Akane walked out of her hiding place and quickly gathered her things. "What are they?" she asked.

"Spies," he answered, his voice filled with disgust. "It is more important than ever that we take Rin to the village."

"This village," Akane glared at him as he walked past her, "What makes you think it will be safe for her? Why would she be safer with humans than with us?" she asked.

"There are not only humans in that village," he said.

"Who else, then?" Akane glared, "Rin has told me all about them. There is miko there, and some boy called Shippo. What makes them special?"

Sesshomaru didn't say anything, he simply turned to her. There was a long silence, and then he spoke. "That story you told Rin. Where did you hear it?"

Akane's eyes grew wide, then she felt her cheeks grow hot, "Where you _listening_ to us!?"

"Rin is my charge," he told her, "I will follow her if I please, and listen to what I please. Now answer my question."

"I don't have to!" she snapped, "That was between me and Rin! You had no right to invade on that!" she began to push past him, but he grabbed her by the throat and shoved her back into a tree so hard that the wide, strong trunk shook with the effort.

Akane struggled to breathe, her feet inches off the ground, as she glared right into Sesshomaru's cold eyes. The mark on her wrist began to burn, making her use what little air she could get to let out a coughing cry of pain. She tried to dig her claws deep into his wrist, but it didn't seem to faze him.

"You are trying my patients, little bitch," he growled at her, "You have challenged me at every turn. I thought by now you would've begun to learn your lesson."

Akane couldn't help but grin at the very idea. He was still trying to make her submit to him, and clearly, it was getting under his skin that she wasn't. They both knew there was only one reason she had been so cooperative to this point, and that was Rin. As soon as she was gone, Akane would have no more reason to hold back. She would try to escape, whether by killing him or making him release her, it didn't matter.

Sesshomaru became more irritated with her for her smirk, and tightened his grip on her throat, making her windpipe constrict. No air got into her lungs, and her vision began to go black. "This Sesshomaru will not tolerate it," he said harshly, "You will learn to submit, or you will die for your arrogance. Which will it be?"

Akane couldn't answer, though she wanted so bad to spit in his face. She couldn't even find the strength to scratch at him with her claws any more as she gasped for breath. Sesshomaru glared at her for a long while, and finally, just before she could black out, he released his grip on her throat. He remained there, holding his hand up as he watched her fall and crumple at his feet.

She clutched her throat and coughed, taking in deep breathes and spitting onto the ground until she looked up at him with a cold glare. Sesshomaru met her violet eyes and said again, "Where did you learn that story?"

Akane didn't want to submit, but she didn't think she could take anymore of the burning mark on her wrist which still tingled with its use. "M-My…my mother told it to me…"

"You're mother?"

"My real mother," she coughed and sat back against the tree, "Before I lived in the human village as a child…that story is actually the way my mother and father really met."

"That is a child's tale," Sesshomaru huffed, thinking he caught her lie.

"It's been doctored into one," she glared at him, "My mother loved stories and music above all things. She would tell them to us, but that one was always her favorite. It's the only one I remember from her."

Sesshomaru saw her face, as it gazed up at the sky, go from hate and anger to a somber expression, a lost one. She pulled her legs up to prop her chin on her knees, glaring down at her feet, "Happy now?" she glanced up at him, "That's the truth."

He believed her, and because of that, walked away. Akane stayed there for an half hour, looking very alone and lost as those bad memories came back. She was able to stop the tears from coming, but it didn't mean she didn't feel the hurt in her heart.

To get her mind off things, she got to her feet and went over to inspect the dead bodies of the three strange creatures. _'He said they were spies…'_ she remembered, _'But for who? And why would they come after us?'_

--

**A/N: ** Oooh…spies!? Someone's really after Sesshy!! *hides my camera*

Okay, I am so, so, so, sooo sorry it's taken me so long to update! I have been cramming for exams, and then Christmas got in the way. I have been working on this story non-stop, and you should see a few more updates this week (hopefully).

This chapter didn't turn out like I wanted it to…and I'm still not too satisfied with it. But, please review anyway! ^-^ Thanks again for reading and I hope you continue (and a major thanks for your patients when it comes to my slow updating…^-^;)


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